Love Is Healing
by I've Got Nerve
Summary: What if Loki hadn't been taken back to Asgard after the events of The Avengers? What if he had received the same punishment as Thor had and was left on Midgard, mortal and defenseless? Also, meet Arianna, a girl who belongs with the group of heroes even if she can't fight battles. No, her power is much different and it may just be Loki's saving grace.
1. Chapter 1

This is a story I'm writing for one of the Imagine Loki prompts on Tumblr. It's also on the site Imagine Loki. It won't be as long as my other stories. 10 to 15 chapters, if that. It was just something that I saw and someone requested it, so I began writing it.

Chapter One

Arianna Grace stood on the top floor of the Stark Tower looking out on Manhattan. She hated that she was stuck inside while all her friends were out there risking their lives. Arianna, however, wasn't a field agent even if she was still considered an Avenger. She definitely didn't think herself a hero.

She didn't own a mythical hammer as Thor did, and she didn't have super strength or a prolonged life span; she wasn't a genius as Tony or Bruce was, and she didn't have a man-made suit of metal, and she definitely wasn't a science experiment gone wrong – for which she was grateful; she wasn't even an experiment gone right as was the case with Steve Rogers – or Captain America as she had previously known him; she couldn't handle a weapon like Hawkeye and she couldn't fight to save her life. Natasha had tried teaching her and all that had resulted in Arianna not being able to move properly for a few days.

No, she was mostly there for the aftermath of this disaster because what she could do was something the others couldn't. She could heal the wounded. It didn't matter whether that wound was physical or emotional, she could heal anyone who accepted her help.

She hadn't been kept completely up to date on this latest disaster, but she knew the drill. Thor's brother, Loki, was trying to take over Earth. Loki wanted to be Earth's king and maybe even Earth's god, she wasn't sure on that part. She'd seen a news clip of Loki trying to get people to kneel to him in Germany and most had.

Now Loki was here in Manhattan.

Arianna couldn't believe all of this was because of some stupid power source called the Tesseract and an idiot with a god-complex. She knew the Tesseract was supposed to be a huge source of sustainable energy and that Loki had taken it, which was why the Avengers had been called together, but she didn't know what Loki wanted it for.

Sure, she knew Thor had said something about Loki leading a war against Earth. Supposedly, there was an army coming. The Chitauri, Thor had said. Loki would be able to rule with their help and then . . . then Loki would trade the Tesseract for their help. But would Loki really let go of all that power?

This Loki . . . he frightened her and she'd never even met him. He was an unknown threat; Natasha had warned her about him. He was a master manipulator and he had a way of controlling people. That was what Arianna feared most about this man.

Arianna had only just been called in, so she hadn't been with the others when they'd captured Loki, but from what Natasha had said . . . he was something else. He'd even shaken her a bit by threatening Agent Barton; Hawkeye had been put under Loki's control for a while.

Even though she hated her friends risking their lives, she was glad she didn't have to go head-to-head with any bad guys.

Natasha had also told her about her confrontation with the Hulk, Bruce's alter ego. Natasha had almost been squashed, had almost been killed. It was her physical training that had saved her life.

Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., had placed Arianna in the Tower because she needed to be close at hand once everything was over.

* * *

Arianna had been up in the tower for about three hours and everything had been fine . . . until now. Now Loki was standing on the balcony of Stark Tower. Some science type person was on the balcony with him and they had the Tesseract with them. She could _feel_ how powerful it was, and to her it was a good kind of power. She knew that in the hands of Loki and people like Loki . . . it wouldn't be good at all.

Arianna was hiding inside. She was in the living room of the penthouse. She'd flung herself behind the bar that Tony had deemed a necessary accessory to the room as soon as JARVIS had let her know someone had broken in. A security image had appeared and she'd seen the tall, black-haired image of Loki.

She didn't know how long she'd been hiding, but she hadn't been able to move for fear of being spotted. The whole room was faced with windows. The want-to-be king couldn't see her or he would kill her or, far worse for her, place her under his control. She'd rather die than be forced into anything.

She heard doors open and then a smooth voice said, "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."

What? Had she been found? How had he seen her? She was in the only spot in the room that would've been considered a good hiding spot.

"Um . . . actually, I'm planning to threaten you."

 _Tony_! Loki had been talking to Tony. The doors that she'd heard opening must've been Tony coming in.

"You should've left your armor on for that."

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage."

The suit had been damaged? Tony was going to face Loki while unprotected by his metal? Was he stupid or something?

"You've got the blue stick of destiny." Tony was now behind the bar as well. He barely glanced at her, but he did see her, she could tell. "Would you like a drink?"

"Stalling me won't change anything."

What scared Arianna the most right now was how calm Loki sounded; he was so sure of himself. She could tell that not only did he want to take over the Earth . . . he believed that he should, that he deserved it somehow.

"No, no, no! Threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one."

"The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers. It's what we call ourselves. Sort of like a team. Earth's mightiest heroes type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them."

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give ya that one. But let's do a head count here."

Arianna didn't know Tony Stark that well; she'd only met him on two other occasions, but she liked him enough to not want him to die. She hoped he wasn't doing something stupid.

Tony stepped away from the bar and went around; Arianna was sure that was an attempt to keep Loki from her.

"We've got your brother, the demi-god; a super soldier, a living legend that kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella . . . you've managed to piss off every one of them."

"That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army."

"We have a hulk," Tony said.

"I thought the beast had wandered off."

So they were missing the one person that could actually probably defeat Loki? This was going great.

"You're missing the point. There's no throne; there's no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."

There was a tense moment where Arianna wanted to know what was going on. Really! She was tempted to peek and would've had she not realized how stupid that would've been.

"How will your friends have time for me when they're so busy fighting you?"

There was a _ping_ and then another _ping_ and Arianna felt tears fill her eyes. She'd understood that threat. Loki was going to control Tony and use him for destruction – and Tony knew where she was!

 _You can stop this!_ She thought. _You know you can!_

"This usually works," Loki said, and for the first time Arianna heard something other than smugness come from him.

"Well, performance issues, you know . . ."

There was a thud and Arianna knew that was Tony falling to the floor. If she turned her head to the left she could see Tony's body. He was able to move so he couldn't be too hurt, but if she could see him then he could see her. If Tony could see her then Loki would be able to see her if he went for Tony – and she knew he would.

A few seconds later, Tony was being thrown through a window and over the side of the building.

She couldn't help it; she screamed, alerting Loki to her presence.

Before the lunatic could get to her, however, a red pod looking thing shot out of the elevator in the front of the penthouse and sped out the window after Tony.

Mere seconds after that Tony – or now Iron Man – was back and firing shots at Loki, who actually fell over.

Arianna knew she had to move now before Loki got his bearings. The trouble was . . . where could she go? If she went toward the front door, Loki could get her, but the same thing would happen if she went for the window. She knew Tony would fly her to safety, but . . .

There was a terrible _BOOM_! What the heck was that?

"Right. Army!" she heard Tony say. "Arianna, run!"

That set her in motion and she scrambled to her feet. She motioned for Tony to go; the world mattered more than she did. As long as she could make it out of the penthouse –

A flash of blue light hit the wall right in front of her, effectively messing up her escape route.

"Stop!"

She knew that was Loki and she really had no choice but to listen. The exit was now blocked.

"Turn around."

She obeyed. She noticed the pleased expression on his face. His smile would've been beautiful if he hadn't looked – well, criminally insane.

"Were you there the whole time?" he asked, moving toward her.

Arianna didn't know how Loki was still standing after being shot with what had been a missile, but he was.

"I – I was." More boldly, she said, "Why are you destroying my world?"

"Destroying it? I don't want to destroy it, Midgardian. I want to rule it."

Loki was so close now that he was towering over her. She had to bend her head back to meet his eyes. His eyes were another thing that would've been beautiful if they didn't seem maniacal.

Her breaths became pants and she found she was trembling. Men like Loki scared her. He could be charming, she was sure, but he could also be cruel. That was a deadly combination.

"Look at you. Lost, alone, frightened . . ."

The way he spoke, he sounded disgusted with her, and to be honest she was disgusted with herself. She was not this little shell of a person. She may have been once, but not anymore. She shouldn't let Loki get under her skin, but he _did_ and she couldn't help it.

"Loki! Turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it!"

Thor! Arianna had only met him hours earlier, but she would recognize that deep authoritative voice anywhere.

It got Loki away from her, at least.

"You can't; there is no stopping it. There is only the war."

* * *

Okay, so let me know what you think. Also I'm not really an avid Avenger girl, so I don't know everything about it. I just know I thought Loki was a horrible person until I watched Thor and then . . . I still think he's got serious issues, but not he's not just a villain in my eyes and can be redeemed if he'd allow himself to be.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

While the two Asgardians duked it out, Arianna sneaked onto the balcony to try and get to the Tesseract so she could deactivate it. She knew she could do it.

She had to do this. Down below, the city was being destroyed by Loki's _army_. There were creatures on robot looking things and there was also a demonic worm – God, what was that? That was the worst. She wasn't sure any of the Avengers could actually fight these things and win.

She heard and saw explosions and knew if she was going to save anything, now was the time to do it. She just needed a way to get past the fight between Thor and Loki.

She had to wait for the opportune moment to slip past. That moment came when Thor slammed Loki against one of the windows and she knew Thor wouldn't let Loki get past him. Thor actually seemed to be talking to the other, crazier, Asgardian and it seemed to be working.

Maybe Thor being his brother and all would mean something to Loki. Maybe Thor could make Loki see that all this destruction wouldn't end in his rule. Tony had tried to explain that to him, but it had seemed to not register in Loki's brain.

Arianna now stood a few feet from the Tesseract. She was so close, and yet she couldn't touch it. There was a force field around the blue stone and unless she could get through that she couldn't get to the Tesseract to close whatever portal it had created to bring Loki's army to Earth.

Arianna placed her hand against the force field and was relieved when she found it didn't hurt her. This type of magic – or whatever one called it – wasn't defensive.

She closed her eyes and visualized a large blue dome surrounding the Tesseract and then she felt the familiar tingle in her fingertips that came from channeling her ability through her hands.

She knew that if anyone were watching they would see a bright golden glow coming from her hands – that's how her ability manifested.

She was now imagining a hole forming in the force field protecting the Tesseract. She didn't need anything big, she just needed to be able to squeeze through.

She'd almost made it when suddenly her wrist was grabbed.

"Now tell me, how does a Midgardian such as yourself know how to do that?"

Images flashed through her mind – just another part of her ability. Her mind, her energy, was merging with the one who had grabbed her.

" _You don't know pain . . . if you fail you will wish for something as sweet as pain."_

She was seeing through someone else's eyes and she was in a barren wasteland. She had hurt herself somehow because her back was killing her. There were chains and whips.

She was chained to a rock and she was facing toward it.

Thanos . . . someone named Thanos.

There was pain as lashes from a whip connected with her back. There were brief but welcome pieces of oblivion that she was sure were unconsciousness. Then came the worst. Fire . . . fire touching her everywhere.

Oh, God. Had she died and gone to hell?

Just as suddenly as the vision had begun it ended. The physical contact ended as well. Her wrist was no longer being held. She turned to the person who'd been touching her and saw Loki . . . a much different Loki than he'd been earlier. He was looking at her with wide, almost vulnerable eyes. She'd been seeing Loki's memories, and what horrible memories they were.

"What happened to you?" she whispered, not really caring that she was talking to the man who had so terrified her earlier.

She wished she hadn't spoken, though, when his eyes hardened again. She almost couldn't blame him. She had seen into his mind and had gone through what were probably his deepest and darkest memories.

This man had been tortured for only God knew how long; no wonder he was insane.

* * *

As Loki stared at the Midgardian woman, he wondered exactly what she was. Midgardians didn't know magic, not like this.

She had actually been able to pry into his mind; the ones who had tortured him had been able to do that as well, but they hadn't seen so much and torn at his mind. They had torn and manipulated and replaced his jealousy and bitterness with all out resentment and rage.

And this human girl had shaken his resolve for a moment, but he was himself again. Whatever that was. He couldn't let her get to the Tesseract.

He looked back to where he had been fighting his brother – _not his brother_ – just moments before. Loki had stabbed him, not to kill him but to get away from him. Thor was nowhere to be found now; he was probably on the streets now helping the other so-called heroes.

A surge of energy pulsed from the Tesseract; that was a signal meant to release more soldiers, more Chitauri.

He heard the girl in front of him gasp and saw her look up. He glanced up as well and almost choked on his own breath. There were thousands of the Chitauri in the sky. Midgard had no chance of winning.

The girl looked at him then, anger in her eyes, and turned from him. She stepped through the hole she'd made in the force field and headed straight for the Tesseract.

Loki was almost tempted to let her try her hand at stopping all this because he was fairly certain she didn't know how. But . . . she was clearly gifted in what Midgardians considered magic; she might figure it out.

Maybe he should just shove her off the balcony; it would solve this whole problem. Or . . . he could just put her under his control. Where was his staff? He could definitely use someone like her on his side.

* * *

Finally Arianna had reached the Tesseract; she actually had her hands on it.

Loki had been right when he'd asked about her magic because in a way what she could do was magic. She could manipulate energy to a certain extent. All things were made of energy – that was why she could heal people.

Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed. At first, Arianna thought she was causing it, that the Tesseract was responding to her trying to shut it down, but then she remembered she had Thor on her side.

She looked up and saw several of the Chitauri fall from their place in the sky, dead. Thor had that part covered, at least.

Loki grabbed her again, and again she was pulled into his memories, his thoughts.

 _He was worried. If he failed to take over Midgard for Thanos, there would be more pain in store for him. If Thanos didn't get the Tesseract . . . Loki didn't even want to know what would happen._

"Let go!" Arianna found herself scream at Loki.

He didn't listen; he actually yanked her away from the Tesseract and pulled her through the force field, which caused a slight shock to go through her.

"Let me go!"

"Really?" he asked and held her slightly over the edge of the balcony.

"No! No, no, no!"

She grabbed onto his leather-clad arms and silently promised herself that if she went over, he would too. The fall might not kill him, but it would slow him down a bit.

For what felt like hours, she was able to see all the destruction below and she could feel from Loki that he hadn't wanted _this_ exactly.

He'd needed the Chitauri more as back up in case the humans rebelled; he hadn't wanted what was to be his world destroyed.

"Then help stop this, Loki," she said, knowing those five words could be enough for him to actually let her topple over the edge.

Instead, however, it made him jerk her forward.

"How dare you use my name! You need to remember your place. I am a god, you pathetic girl!"

He shoved her away from him but not over the edge of the balcony, she was happy to find even as her knees hit the cement, even as she caught herself and scratched the palms of her hands.

The relief of not being thrown off the balcony was short-lived, however, because the problem still remained – she was stuck up there with a raving lunatic.

What she didn't know was that Natasha and Bruce had been fighting their way to Stark Tower. Natasha got there first, but Bruce was close behind and he had his game face on; he was the Hulk now.

The Hulk could've been a whole other problem, but somehow Bruce seemed to have control of the green beast that sometimes came forward.

Natasha helped Arianna off her knees and the Hulk shoved Loki through one of the windows of the penthouse.

"The Tesseract!" Natasha exclaimed. "Can you shut it down?"

"I think so. Keep Loki away from me."

Though Arianna was sure Bruce had it covered.

It was easy getting to the Tesseract now since the hole in the force field was already there. Her hands trembled as she touched the stone and then instincts took over.

Energy meshed with energy, and as Arianna had thought before it was good for her. The things she could do with this much energy – God, all the people she could help . . .

But no . . . she wasn't there to take in the Tesseract's energy. She was there to stop it. She just needed to find the off switch.

She focused all her energy on the complexity that was this cube's _raw_ power, but there really seemed to be no hole for her mind to slip into, none that was for stopping the portal in the sky.

She did find out there was a key and she needed it _now_!

"Tash, look for Loki's staff. That's the key to cutting this thing off."

She broke her connection with the cube and stepped out of the force field. Someone grabbed her wrist and, looking down, she saw the science guy who'd helped set up the Tesseract. He had a small cut on his head, and he didn't seem to want to hurt her, so she lifted her free hand and lightly touched his head with her fingertips. The cut closed up before her eyes.

"The staff can change you. Be careful."

She nodded once and he let go.

* * *

Natasha ended up being the one to actually shut down the Tesseract, and everyone was now in what had been Tony Stark's penthouse.

Bruce had long since changed back to his normal form; Clint had his bow fixed on Loki, though Arianna had no clue what an arrow would do to Loki; Thor was there with his hammer; Steve was there glaring; Tony was hurt but still standing; Natasha had Loki's staff held tightly in her hands.

Arianna didn't like the staff. More precisely, she didn't like the blue stone at the end of it; the stone made her feel weird, made her feel anxious. It made her feel like everything she was afraid of was hovering in the shadows to get her.

"Can't we get rid of that thing? It's freaking me out."

"Second that," Clint said.

"I will take it to Asgard when Loki and I return," Thor said.

Loki couldn't speak or do much of anything, really, because Thor had put handcuffs on him and had put some form of muzzle on him.

"Before we get moving . . . may I heal you guys?"

"Tony's the worst. I think his ribs are bruised," Natasha said.

Tony was still in his suit, so that had to come off, but then she was able to heal him just fine. Well, after he got over the fact that she had to touch him to heal him, he was fine.

The rest of them had bruises also, but none as bad as Tony had. They told her to save her energy for the civilians.

"How is it you know magic?" Thor asked.

"Um . . . I don't know how it happened exactly. I just woke up one day years ago and was able to."

She looked at Loki now and back to Thor. "Is that muzzle thing really necessary?"

"It's what all Asgardian prisoners wear until they get to Odin."

"Yes, well, we're not in Asgard right now, and unless it's physically harmful for him to have the freedom to speak, could you please take it off? I understand the restraints, but the muzzle's a bit much. He's not an animal."

Everyone looked at Arianna as if she was crazy for standing up for Loki, but they didn't know what she knew. Having seen just seconds of what he'd been through, she knew being restrained was probably driving him crazy.

It actually scared her when Loki lowered his eyes when she looked back at him. That was a submissive gesture if ever there was one.

Thor didn't move from his spot; she guessed that meant he wasn't going to free Loki's mouth.

"Fine," she said. "I'll do it myself."

"Aries," Natasha said, "what're you doing?"

Arianna ignored her friend and began walking toward Loki, who was standing ram-rod straight and looking at her warily. It struck her then that because she knew "magic", Loki might be more afraid of her than any of the others in this room – except for maybe Bruce and Thor.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said as she brought her hand to the metal contraption covering his mouth.

A click sounded through the air as she sent enough energy into the muzzle to unlock it, and she gently pulled it from his face. Bruises were already forming where the thing had lined his mouth. Arianna would've healed him, but she was scared to actually touch him. She didn't want to be pulled into his thoughts again.

A bright light filled the room then and it took a few seconds for Arianna to be able to see. Out on the balcony was a woman with long golden hair. She was wearing a floor-length light green gown.

"Mother," Thor said, stepping forward.

Loki had tensed beside Arianna and she realized that this was Loki's mother too.

"Thor. Loki. My sons."

Arianna also realized this meant that the woman was Asgardian. Was she here to help or harm? She seemed soft-spoken and friendly, but that didn't really mean anything.

"Thor, I'm here to take you home. Loki is to stay here."

The woman looked at Loki now, sympathy all over her face.

"You are to face the same punishment Thor did not so many months ago. You are to remain here, mortal with no powers. You can come back home once you learn your lesson."

He had to stay on Midgard? Powerless and mortal? He would age and die if he didn't _learn his lesson_?

"If I may," the human girl said, stepping up to his defense again. "Have you considered he may have had a reason for doing what he did?"

"Yes, of course," his mother, Frigga said. "Be that as it may . . . his deeds cannot go unpunished."

"Agreed. I just . . . thought it bore mentioning."

Frigga shared a kind smile with the girl.

"What is your name?"

"Arianna," she said slowly.

"Arianna." Again Frigga smiled. "Beautiful name. Can I assume since you were so quick to defend my son that no harm would come to him under your care?"

"What?" both Arianna and the red-headed one said in unison.

"This man who stands before me . . . he is a darkened version of my son. You, however, have the ability to heal people . . ."

"Oh . . ."

The fact that Frigga knew that meant that someone had been keeping watch over this Arianna.

"It could take years to fix . . . um . . ."

The Midgardian was finding it hard to say out loud what she'd seen in Loki's memories. There really weren't words to describe it. He could tell it was more than that, though. She didn't wish to say it out loud because it wasn't her secret to tell. In a way, she was stating she would never talk about it unless he spoke first.

"Loki is undeniably clever. I think he'll be himself in no time."

Loki couldn't help noticing the mischievous gleam in his mother's eyes. He'd spent so much time with her he'd learned some of her expressions and this one meant that she was up to something.

He was suddenly frightened of what was to come. Did Frigga want him to become mortal? Was that what the smile and the gleam was about? What did that mean for him?

What would he do if he didn't have his powers?

"I suggest everyone vacate the room if you want your vision intact," Frigga said.

Needless to say, the Avengers – minus Thor – got through the rubble blocking the exit in record time.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

After all the Avengers left the room, Loki relaxed only slightly. His mother showing up on Midgard to reveal his punishment – if one could actually call it a punishment with all he'd been through with Thanos – had thrown him a bit.

Loki had expected to be taken back to Asgard, he'd expected to have to face Odin, he'd expected to be locked up like a criminal.

What he hadn't expected was to receive the same punishment as Thor had received when he'd gone to Jotunheim and almost caused all-out war with the frost giants. Loki had actually brought war to Midgard, so maybe that was why he was sentenced to live there.

"You've always wanted to be treated equally to Thor. I convinced Odin to do it this once," Frigga said. "Things could be worse."

Loki looked at his mother and glared faintly. "Define worse."

From what his mother had said earlier in response to Arianna's words about him having a reason for bringing war to Midgard, Loki assumed Frigga knew at least part of what he'd been through. She would know that physical punishment was all relative to him now. Maybe that was why Odin had agreed to this insane solution.

"You realize this punishment is meant to be for your own good," Frigga said. "Maybe you will find your humanity here? A light to fend off the darkness."

"And there is darkness," Loki let slip.

Thor, who had been almost completely silent, now said, "This will help, brother. I learned much when I was a mortal here."

Loki outwardly ignored Thor and continued looking at his mother. He really did love his mother and he knew she loved him.

"You would leave me here defenseless against this world? This world that has been through much destruction in my name?"

Without his powers how would he protect himself?

The Man of Iron and Arianna didn't seem too violent, and the patriotic one wouldn't hurt a defenseless person. But Agents' Barton and Romanoff had every reason to want him dead, and the green beast was downright frightening.

And what of the Chitauri and Thanos? Loki had to suppress a shudder that wanted to take over his body. He couldn't take anymore torture, he just couldn't.

"Befriend Arianna," Frigga said. "She has a good heart."

* * *

Arianna and the other Avengers had been out of the penthouse and downstairs for about thirty minutes. During that time, Tony had been on the phone with his contractors. They would start rebuilding the penthouse first thing in the morning.

Arianna knew Tony wouldn't only help rebuild Stark Tower; he would also help pay for the damage that had been done to Manhattan earlier. Tony could help heal, too, in a way, by making things appear as if they'd never been destroyed.

"I should be out there," Arianna said, pacing back and forth.

"And risk exposing yourself to everyone?" Natasha asked. "You know you have to wait."

Yes, she knew she had to wait. She couldn't just go out and heal people on the streets even though she wanted to. No, she had to wait until the streets had cleared a little and the wounded had been taken to the hospital.

She'd made the mistake before by going public with her abilities and it had gotten her under government surveillance. That was how SHIELD had gotten hold of her. The reason she wasn't actually a field agent was because only Natasha knew Arianna could do more than heal.

"Are we going to completely ignore the fact that Mama Bear put our littlest Avenger in charge of her crazy son?" Tony asked, off the phone now.

"Was planning on it," Arianna said and rolled her eyes.

She hated being called out on being little. She was perfectly average height for a twenty-seven-year old. She was also, however, what she considered skinny and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't gain muscle mass. It made her appear weak, especially to her way-bigger-than-her friends.

"Arianna!" a thunderous voice boomed from the staircase to their left. "Healer! Come quickly!"

Arianna was already on her way to the stairs; she'd started moving as soon as she'd heard her name.

"What? What is it?"

"My brother is in need of assistance."

At the mention of Loki, Natasha began following Arianna. Of course her friend wouldn't let her face this man alone.

"Is he . . . powerless now?"

"It's much worse," was Thor's response.

* * *

At the doorway of the penthouse, Loki's and Thor's mother was pacing back and forth. She seemed agitated and overwhelmed. She quickly broke her stride when Arianna reached her.

Frigga grabbed her hand and began leading Arianna into the room. Loki wasn't where he had been. In fact she didn't see Loki at all at first and she didn't feel him either.

One of the things she _hated_ about being able to invade minds was the leftover vibes she would get from the people. She could usually tell when said people were near.

"Where's Loki?"

Had they been tricked? Had they actually let Loki go after all the trouble they'd gone through to capture him?

"He's resting. It seems . . ." Frigga began, and Arianna noticed how the woman's eyes glistened. "Loki is a master of illusions. Without his magic . . ."

Frigga stiffened and looked behind Arianna. Arianna looked over her shoulder and was shocked to see everyone from downstairs there in the doorway.

"They won't hurt him," she said, hoping to get rid of whatever fear the woman may have had.

"It's not that. I just don't wish for them to see Loki this way. He wouldn't want him to see him this way."

"Oh. Well, they will see him anyway. He will be staying with me, and I will be staying here."

"Um . . . This is my house," Tony said from behind her.

"Yes," Arianna answered, turning around. "But none of you want me alone with him so . . ."

Sometimes being the "littlest Avenger" had its perks. She could usually get her way because she played up her small figure. She had a way of making people think she was weak and unable to defend herself. That had once been true and she remembered well how it felt. She used those memories to her advantage even if she didn't actually like being called _little_.

"She has a point," Clint said. "She shouldn't be alone with him."

"I assure you, he cannot harm anyone now." Frigga grabbed Arianna's arm again. "Come."

Arianna was led to the couch and around it. An audible gasp escaped her and bile threatened to rise. She swallowed compulsively.

Before her was a beaten and bloodied Loki. What had happened to him? There were cuts and bruises everywhere she could see. His armor had been removed along with everything covering his upper body, and he was no longer restrained. He was laid out over the couch and he was on his stomach.

Lashes from whips covered the pale skin of his back; there were scorch marks along his arms and back as well.

"What happened?" Arianna's voice shook with the effort it took her not to yell.

"His magic was removed. He must've been covering it up."

God, Loki must've had a serious endurance for pain because she hadn't seen any sign of him being wounded before.

She now knew why Frigga didn't want the others seeing Loki like this. He would probably be humiliated once he woke up.

"Can you help him?"

"I . . . it will take time. If I try to heal it all at once . . . it won't end well for me."

"Just do what you can."

Arianna nodded and moved forward until she reached the resting form that was Loki. She knelt beside him; the irony of that was not lost on her.

On closer inspection, Arianna realized that Loki was extremely malnourished. In fact, she was certain that if he'd been human before now he would've been dead.

"Dr. Banner, we need an IV drip. Now."

She didn't look up from Loki. She took it on faith that Bruce would listen. He was a pretty nice guy when he wasn't green.

"Tony, I know you can help him with that."

If Tony didn't have medical equipment in the building, he would know where to get some quickly.

Arianna now brought her hands up and let them hover over Loki's back. She didn't really want to touch him because she didn't want to feel what he'd been through, not again, but he really did need to be healed. His whole body was probably teeming with infection.

"Tash, go tell Banner he'll need antibiotics too."

Loki's body was filthy, but that was the least of her worries.

"Agent Barton, I'm gonna need some warm water and a wash cloth. Cap, I need Tony to give us a room for him.

While each Avenger left to do his or her duty Frigga touched Arianna's shoulder and whispered, "Thank you."

"It's nothing. I didn't understand until I saw him."

Arianna knew what it was like to have someone observe her at the lowest point of her life when she was broken and she wouldn't wish it on anyone.

She jumped when a broken and shaky breath escaped Loki's lungs. She didn't know what that meant – she could heal people, yes, but she wasn't a doctor.

"Ms . . . um . . . Loki's mom, I will have to clean him first; I can't leave the infection there. I may have to wait to heal the lashes."

"Please, call me Frigga. And what of the bruises?"

Arianna smiled softly. "Those I can heal."

Regardless of her fear, Arianna gently touched Loki's back. She had to fight her very nature just so she wouldn't be pulled into whatever nightmare he was having, and she knew he _was_ having nightmares.

"We should really keep him sedated until I can heal him fully," Arianna muttered more to herself than anyone else.

Arianna forced herself to focus now so she could heal only his bruises. She was fairly certain the bruises were from when Bruce had lost his temper and banged Loki around a bit.

She didn't force her energy into Loki; in the state he was in it might throw him into shock. She was glad he was asleep, however, because some people could steal the energy and Loki being Loki, he might know how to do that.

"Does anyone know how long he's been . . . tortured?"

"Perhaps a year," Thor said. "He's been away for a year."

A whole year?

"And the burns?" Frigga said. "Can you heal those? They probably will bother him the most."

Arianna nodded. She would do all she could.

"I may have to take breaks, but it will get done."

* * *

Tony provided a room for both Arianna and Loki. In Loki's room, there was nothing but the essentials – a bed and an IV drip with a saline solution and antibiotics. Arianna had been with him for a few hours now and the only thing she'd really accomplished was wearing herself out.

The bruises Loki had been burdened with before were now gone, but everything else was the same on the outside. There had been internal damage – again probably from the Hulk swinging him around – and Arianna had thought it best to heal that first. His lungs had been damaged because his ribs had been broken.

Bruce and Tony had been there for that. She didn't know a thing about technology and Loki had needed to be x-rayed. She hadn't been able to set the bones right; Bruce had done that, too. And she couldn't really speed up the process of healing his ribs without risking hurting herself

After having healed Loki's bruises she'd allowed the former wanna-be king to be moved to the current room. Clint had already left a big bowl of warm water and a wash cloth and Arianna had cleaned Loki's upper body before going for the second session of healing.

She'd tried to heal the burns then and hadn't been very successful. The burns were extensive and to heal those she would literally have to manipulate his tissue to heal itself, which was hard.

She'd stopped only because her head had started hurting and her nose had started bleeding. The second session had really just been Arianna transferring her energy into the prone person she was trying so hard to heal.

She'd needed a nap and some food after expending so much energy.

Now as she tried again, she met resistance in the form of words in Loki's mind. The words were from one of Loki's nightmares. One of Loki's tormentors must've been equipped with the mission to make Loki feel unwanted and unloved because that's what she was hearing. If it was plaguing Loki's nightmares, the method of torture must've worked.

Frigga and Thor came into the room and left whenever they wanted to. Both Frigga and Thor worried about her overworking herself and kept watch over her.

Tony kept asking her if she wanted food for some reason; she only said yes once.

No one really said anything about her using all of her energy to heal Loki, but Arianna could tell they didn't really understand.

Tony seemed to be the least judgmental, and then it was Clint. Arianna figured that meant that since Clint had been mind-controlled he could relate to being coerced into doing something. Bruce was the most compassionate and the one helping with Loki the most. Steve was the least understanding, but only because he saw Loki as someone who had tried to destroy his home. Natasha was more worried because she knew how far Arianna pushed herself.

Arianna didn't know what the big deal was. The rest of them pushed themselves, risked their lives in the line of fire and this, what she was doing, was no different.

"He's fighting me," Arianna said. "I, um . . . he must be more aware now because he didn't fight me before. I may have to literally go into his mind and wake him up."

"Is that not dangerous?" Thor asked.

"It's actually not dangerous at all, physically."

It wasn't really dangerous in any regard; it would, however, be emotionally draining.

She'd done this before with coma victims. The younger ones almost never put up a fight. The adults, however, were another story altogether. Adults had defense mechanisms that children did not.

"What will you need?" Frigga asked.

"I will need for you and Thor to leave the room," she said. "I'll need quiet so I can concentrate."

* * *

Once in Loki's mind it didn't take long for Arianna to find him, which was surprising to her; most people who were unconscious fell deep inside themselves.

With Loki, however, she found him within seconds. He was crouched behind a rock just a few feet away. In fact, he seemed to be cowering.

Loki? Cowering? No way.

She'd only been around him when he was awake all of about thirty minutes, but she could tell he wasn't the type to cower away from anything.

Loki wasn't healed in his mind, she noticed, because all of his bruises were still there. None of what she'd been doing in real life was taking place here.

And where was here? It looked like the barren wasteland that she'd seen flashes of earlier. This was his own personal form of Hell, probably, and he was stuck here.

Slowly, she crept forward and knelt beside him.

"Loki?" she whispered and touched his shoulder.

He jerked away but looked at her nonetheless. His eyes were wide with fright and she regretted touching him. She was downright flabbergasted when he tried to cover his head; it was as if he thought she was going to hurt him.

Well, of course he did. This was a place of pain and he wouldn't have known anything else but pain here.

"Loki, I'm not here to hurt you," she said firmly.

Loki didn't move, though he did speak.

"Everybody hurts here."

"Loki . . . you're not actually here anymore. You, um . . . got out."

This got a reaction from him.

"No one gets out."

"You did. You went to Midgard. Thor is waiting there for you."

"He came for me?"

Loki seemed to want to believe that so badly, but he also seemed afraid to.

Arianna nodded. She would have to play this carefully. It appeared that this Loki, the part of Loki that was still truly himself was locked up here – this was probably a defense mechanism for the Loki that wanted to rule Earth. _That_ Loki couldn't have had this one running loose or it would've messed up his plan.

"Loki, do you know who I am?"

"Should I?"

"Yes . . . well, sort of. I met you earlier today."

She told him about how she could heal people and that she was trying to heal him, but he was fighting her.

"This is madness," Loki muttered.

"I know it probably seems that way, but you have to trust me."

She hoped he would trust her, but she knew he probably wouldn't. For this to work, however . . .

"What are you hiding from?"

"Thanos."

She remembered that name. Thanos was the one she'd heard threaten Loki; he was the one Loki was so afraid of.

"He can't actually hurt you here. He can only do what you allow him to do."

"Actually . . ."

A voice came from behind Arianna and Loki's eyes widened in fright again. Arianna turned around to find a huge blue man in black clothing and gold-plated armor. If this was Thanos . . . what exactly was he?

He had to be about seven feet tall and he looked to weigh at least a thousand pounds – he had a made-of-stone look to him.

"I'm very much real."

His huge fist came toward her and she instinctively flinched even though he shouldn't have been able to touch her.

 _He isn't real_! She thought even as his fist connected with the side of her head. She was sure if this were real, she would've been knocked unconscious by the blow, assuming she would've still had her head.

He had proven that he was real, however, and Arianna was now afraid. Since she'd been knocked over by him hitting her, she scurried backwards much like she was crab-walking.

"I told him what awaited him was pain if he failed. You will not take that away," the huge man-thing said. "You _can_ choose to leave him here."

Loki stiffened beside her and she could tell he thought she would leave him, and the truth was she would've if she thought she could bring someone back with her to help, but she knew what it was like to be trapped in her own head with no one to help pull her out and she wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Maybe if Loki had just been evil she could leave and feel no regret doing it, but now that she knew why he'd done what he'd done . . . she couldn't, with good conscience, leave him there.

Thanos couldn't really hurt her if she didn't let him. Maybe she would be able to pull Loki out of this despite what this Thanos had said.

* * *

Loki hated himself at that moment – not that he'd ever loved himself, but he _really_ hated himself now for being a coward. He didn't know this girl even though she'd said they'd met earlier, and yet he still didn't want her to go.

He didn't want to be alone anymore. He didn't want to be alone here, but he didn't want the girl to be hurt either, not when she seemed so willing to help him.

"No one can help you," Thanos said. "No one would want to."

Nobody could love him. He was a monster, he was a frost giant. He'd never been anyone's priority and he definitely didn't expect this girl to pick him over herself. It was absurd to hope for anything other than a quick and painless death.

"Loki?" the girl said. She never had said her name. "You don't listen to him. I'm not going anywhere and I can help you. You have to let me."

Thanos yelled and Loki saw the Titan rush forward to hit the girl again, but she was quick and he ended up falling over himself.

If what the girl had said was true . . . if they really were in his mind then he could do whatever he wanted here. He could take away his pain and he could get rid of Thanos even if the Titan was real.

The first thing Loki did was make himself strong again. He should assist his helper. She wasn't a fighter, he could tell by the way she carried herself.

What he really needed was a weapon yet he'd been made defenseless. Was he able to conjure one out of midair? Apparently he was because as soon as he thought of one of his many daggers it appeared in his hand.

The girl was now standing still with her hand in the air. She had her palm faced outward and Thanos . . . well, he was still, too. He seemed to be attempting to move, but it wasn't working.

This girl knew magic – well, more than just illusionary magic. She was literally keeping Thanos still by sheer force of will.

"Now, Loki! You have to be the one to do it."

Since they were all in _his_ mind that made sense. He couldn't actually kill Thanos since this wasn't real, but maybe just the act itself would force the Titan out.

Loki moved quickly; within seconds he'd stabbed through the leather of Thanos' attire. He twisted the dagger and yanked upwards, properly eviscerating the image of the Titan.

And just like that, Loki opened his eyes to the real world.

* * *

Okay, so I'm really iffy about this story. I'm going off the theory that Loki was tortured for however long when he fell off the Bifrost and into whatever dimension/realm he fell into. I don't know much about Thanos, so I did what I could with that. I've seen pictures where he's blue and I've seen pictures where he's purple - I don't know which is accurate. Also, I'm going on the theory that because of that torture Loki was twisted into what he came out as in The Avengers. Tom himself has said that Loki represents all of what's bad about humanity, but at the end he's really just a wounded child lashing out and that's what I wanted to come across in this chapter. The wounded part of himself that's left and locked away by Loki is the part that Arianna comes into contact with in Loki's mind.

Please let me know what you guys think. Also, I've seen Thor, The Avengers, Iron Man 1, and Captain America 1 and 2, so I'm not, like a Marvel fanatic so if I get something wrong, just explain it to me and I'll try to fix it.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The only thing Loki really saw was the girl – no, Arianna. He remembered her name now. She had shoulder-length honey blond hair, much like the color of his mother's, and bright ocean-blue eyes. That was all he noticed at that point and that was only because she was standing over him.

He took her in within the few seconds it took for his pain to register and then he felt as if he couldn't breathe; so intense was his agony that he couldn't even find the strength to scream out loud even though he knew he'd opened his mouth to do just that.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Arianna said. "Your ribs were broken. I couldn't heal them. I know that must be extremely painful."

She went on to tell him every other thing she'd found that needed to be healed. She confessed she'd only been able to heal his bruises so far.

"What you really need is food and water."

"Food sounds wonderful," Loki admitted weakly.

He couldn't actually remember the last time he'd eaten. He did, however, remember that when he'd been under the control of Thanos, he would sometimes miss many days worth of meals when he wouldn't cooperate.

"Right. Um . . . what do Asgardians eat?"

Before Loki could reply, the door to his room opened. Loki hadn't paid attention before, but now that he could focus on something other than pain he realized he had no idea where he was.

He could worry about that later, however, because the only thing that mattered at the moment was that he was weak and in pain and the person who had opened the door was the man who could turn into a beast.

Loki had never moved so quickly in his life. It caused him more pain, but he didn't care. This man wasn't going to get ahold of him again.

He threw his legs over the side of the bed, intent on getting to his feet and running, using whatever strength he had left to push past Banner and get away.

"Loki!" Arianna exclaimed, but he ignored her.

A sharp pain went through his chest and it had nothing to do with physical wounds. No, he'd trusted her as much as he could trust anyone. He'd allowed her to lead him out of his tormented mind only to awaken here with the one being in the existence of Midgard that had been able to hurt him.

As soon as Loki's feet hit the floor he stood up . . . and fell right back down. The pain that fired throughout his body took his breath away and jarred him enough to break through his adrenaline-addled body.

So he couldn't even stand? How was he to escape his fate if he couldn't walk?

"Loki," the girl whispered, kneeling beside him. "I know what you're thinking and it's not true. I didn't betray you, and Bruce will not hurt you. He has no reason to now."

Loki didn't respond vocally, but when Banner tried to help him stand and sit back on the bed Loki allowed it without a fuss.

"He needs water and food," Arianna said to the doctor. "I suggest soup, maybe even just broth. He's extremely malnourished."

Banner nodded. "I'll have Tony get something brought here. What should I tell Thor and –"

"They'll want to see him."

Loki noticed that Arianna was looking at him. She wasn't dictating that they had to see him; she was giving him a choice. He could decide for himself.

He gave a quick nod and Banner left. Only a few seconds passed before both Thor and his mother flooded into the room.

"Loki, my son!" Frigga said and sprinted to his bedside. "You're awake."

"Careful," Arianna said. "He's still in pain. I wasn't able to heal him as fully as I wanted to."

"He is able to be awake," Thor said. "That is enough."

"Hm . . . Well, I'll leave you guys to it."

Loki stiffened when Arianna touched his shoulder, but she didn't remove her hand.

"I'll be back shortly with some water and your food."

* * *

Once outside the room, Arianna slid down to the floor with her back against the wall. She was mentally exhausted. She'd had to break through Loki's defenses and she'd had to fight against Thanos.

She'd been anxious to get outside and help the victims of the earlier battle, but now she was glad she had to wait. She probably couldn't hold up against a flea at the moment.

Unbidden, tears stung her eyes. What was she doing? What had she been doing for the past however many hours? She'd been helping a criminal. Yes, he'd been through _a lot_ , but did that matter, really, in the scheme of things? Who knew what he'd done before he'd been tortured. Maybe he'd been bad all along, she didn't know.

A quiet sob escaped her and she clapped a hand over her mouth. She would _not_ do this here where just anyone could walk by and see her.

"Aries?"

A figure hovered over her – short, dressed in black, red hair. Natasha – before sitting down with her. Arianna should've known that Natasha was near; there was no way Tash would've gone far knowing her friend was in the other room with a psychopath.

"What's wrong? Did Loki hurt you?"

"No. Loki can barely sit or stand. He's . . . he's – if he'd been human before now, he'd be dead."

"But he's not."

"No. I helped him a little, but . . . he's not him, or . . . maybe he's more himself than ever, I don't know. But he's not the guy who tried to take over the world."

"That's a good thing. Why are you crying?"

"Because he's been through a lot, Tash. And I felt some of it. And I'm tired, and I just can't do anything else today."

"Then don't. You always push yourself too hard and then you end up feeling awful for days."

Arianna knew that was true, but she also knew she had several reasons for doing so. Because her best friend was a superhero, whether Natasha believed that or not, Arianna felt the need to prove herself as useful as the other Avengers. She couldn't actually fight the bad guys, but she could clean up their messes. Or at least, that had been her job until now.

"Am I crazy for wanting to heal him?" she whispered. "I mean, I feel it was the right thing to do, but –"

"It is unprecedented," Natasha said. "But you also wouldn't be you if you didn't want to help. Just because he's a villain doesn't mean that he can't also be a victim."

"He is," Arianna said. "He is."

Natasha smiled softly. "Sometimes you care too much, Aries. Sometimes I think you're in the wrong line of work."

* * *

Inside the room Frigga was apologizing to Loki.

"Why did you not say anything before I stripped you of your powers and your . . . immortality?"

"I did not wish for you to know," Loki said.

What Loki _wished_ was that Thor and their mother would leave him alone. He was sitting up to save face, but he needed to lie back down. It was physically hurting him to stay upright.

And where was Arianna? He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he felt just a bit better with her in the room, and he would definitely need her with him once his mother left. None of the other hero-types would dare touch him with her present.

Just when he was getting close to keeling over, Arianna came in. She was balancing a tray with a bottle of water and a steaming bowl of what Loki assumed was the broth she'd mentioned earlier.

"Hey," she said with false cheerfulness. "I got some vegetable soup and, obviously, water."

Behind her was the doctor – Bruce – and he had some sort of tray also, but this one had legs coming down on both sides.

"You should lie back down. We've got you covered."

Loki was able to lie down, though he couldn't say he was comfortable at all. Bruce placed the tray down, one leg on either side of him, and then the doctor reached down on the side of the bed. There was a small click and then the head of the bed was moving upward.

Loki stiffened. What kind of magic was this?

"It's just a hospital bed, Loki," Arianna said. "He's making it so you can sit up while you eat, but you won't have to support yourself."

"Hm."

Once Loki was situated, Arianna placed the tray of food on the place Bruce had made for it. The soup looked good, at least, and smelled even better. He was so hungry, though, that the smell almost turned his stomach.

"Don't force yourself to eat," Banner said. "But you do need water. Drink it slowly or you'll get sick."

Why were they being so nice to him? What did they want?

"Uh . . . how long are you going to stay?" Arianna asked, looking at Thor and Frigga. "Not that you _have_ to go, but you probably made the records with that spick of energy you let loose by coming to this realm."

"In the morning when you begin the healing sessions again we will leave," Frigga said. "You need to sleep and someone will need to stay with Loki."

"I am not a child," Loki said. "No one needs to stay."

That was a complete and utter lie. He needed someone with him because he really couldn't do for himself at the moment. The only thing that had been keeping the pain at bay had been his magic, and now he didn't even have that.

And . . . wait . . . Arianna was going to continue to heal him? Why? For what purpose?

"Why would you do this for me?"

Arianna smiled softly. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I tried to destroy this city," Loki responded as if it were obvious.

"You didn't want to destroy it; you wanted to rule it."

Those were his words from earlier and now she was throwing them back at him.

Before he could respond to that, however, Arianna saw her way out of the room and then Banner left too. Both Thor and Frigga had small grins on their lips and Loki rolled his eyes.

Loki didn't find anything funny about having his words thrown back at him. In fact, it only made him remember her earlier words. She'd wanted him to help save her city even though he'd been the one to bring destruction down upon it.

Lost in his own thoughts, Loki was surprised when warm liquid filled his mouth. It was the vegetable soup; it had a savory flavor as if it had been made with chicken broth.

His mother had brought the spoon to his mouth. Thankfully Thor had already gone; Frigga most've sent him away.

Loki was able to eat a few of the vegetables from the soup, but he stuck mostly to the broth. He drank all of his water, however.

* * *

Down in the lobby area, Arianna and the other Avengers were lounging around on furniture, doing nothing really except waiting for word on what should be done next.

Director Fury had called Tony to _schedule_ a meeting, which just meant they'd been given about a five-minute heads up on Fury's arrival. He'd probably gotten readings of energy when Frigga had arrived on the balcony of Stark Tower.

What if he found out they were harboring Loki there? What if he already knew?

They would try to take Loki away and Arianna didn't know if she would allow that. If she intervened, however, they would probably take her away too. They would arrest her for aiding and abetting – or they would try to. Natasha would probably stand by her and Clint would, too; Thor would help her if only so she could help Loki; Tony would do it just to make Fury angry. The only wild card was Captain America because she didn't think Bruce would want to get in the middle of anything.

When Fury arrived Arianna basically shrank into herself. He was one of the most intimidating men she'd ever met. It had nothing to do with his height or the fact that he wore an eyepatch. It had everything to do with the way he carried himself. He had a no-nonsense attitude along with all the confidence in the world.

He could back that confidence up, too. He had the power and ability to do pretty much whatever he wanted, and he usually did whatever he had to do to get a job done.

"Where is he?" were the first words that came out of Fury's mouth.

"Where's who?" Tony asked.

"Don't play dumb with me. Where's the one who killed Coulson?"

"He is hurt," Arianna said softly. "And he can't be moved."

"Can't be moved? If I were to try and take him from here, who would stop me?"

Thor was the first to step up and then it was Arianna. Standing next to the god of thunder, Arianna didn't think Fury was all that frightening. Tony stood by her like Arianna had thought he would.

Natasha and Clint hesitated, but Natasha did say, "Director, from what Arianna says . . . Loki was tortured into submission. He was promised more pain if he didn't obey."

"And did Loki just offer up this information freely?" asked Fury, sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Not exactly," Arianna said.

And here was the turning point. She could either fess up and be turned into a weapon or she could keep quiet about everything and let Fury find Loki to take him away.

"Director Fury . . . I saw into his mind. I . . . didn't want to, but . . ."

"You _what_?"

"It's complicated," she said.

"I suggest you uncomplicate it," Fury demanded.

"I manipulate energy, Director. That's how I heal, and you know that. I can do pretty much anything I put my mind to."

"Like reading minds . . ."

"I didn't mean to do that. Our enemies merged together and I just did. It was in the forefront of his mind and so I saw it."

"Why wasn't I made aware of this? Do you know how much you could do?"

"Yes, and that's why I didn't let you know. I mean, I'm basically a power source – like the Tesseract, and you wanted to make nuclear weapons out of that. I refuse to be used for destruction."

Arianna was aware she was probably exaggerating a bit. She couldn't really do _anything_ she set her mind to, but she could do a lot. She had never really practiced, though, and she didn't really want to. She was fine not knowing how much she was capable of.

"We have everything under control here," Tony said. "The guy is contained and not a threat anymore."

"The energy readings you received earlier were from another Asgardian coming into our realm, sir," Natasha said. "Thor's and Loki's mother. She stripped Loki of his powers, so he really is harmless."

"He's basically human," Clint said.

"He's still a terrorist and needs to be taken into custody," Fury stated.

"Not until he's better," Arianna said. "Give me a week."

"A week and he'll be better? Strong enough to be moved?"

"Yes. There are emotional traumas as well, but I can't really mend those."

"Well, we have psychologists to deal with that," Fury said. "You have a week, Agent."

Without further ado, Fury walked out the same way he came in.

"Thor . . . do you mind getting me the Tesseract? I can't actually heal Loki in a week, not by myself."

"What do you intend to do with it?" Thor asked, not suspicious but curious.

"Borrow energy."

* * *

Loki was lying down and trying to sleep when Arianna came back to his room. He'd thought she was gone for the night, but apparently he'd been wrong.

Thor was with her and he was carrying the container that held the Tesseract. What were they doing with it? Loki really wanted nothing to do with it at all.

"We have a problem," Arianna said. "Fury is . . . he wants to take Loki away. I bought us some time, but . . ."

"But?" Frigga asked.

"He gave me a week." Arianna looked at Loki. "You don't want to be hurt when they take you from here. They won't hurt you further, but they won't take the time to heal you either."

"Are you sure no one would harm him?" Thor asked. "When Fury had him before, he asked me to . . . torture Loki to get information. He didn't seem to like it when I refused."

Arianna wasn't surprised when she found out Fury had suggested torture, but it had been different then. Fury didn't need information anymore and they already had the Tesseract.

"I want to spend another couple of hours healing you tonight. I can't heal the lashes until the infection leaves your body, but I can take the burns away. As long as you don't fight me this time."

"Of course I won't fight you," Loki said. "To be hair, I don't think I was the one blocking your power last time."

 _Thanos_ , Arianna thought. _Of course_.

"Okay, I'm gonna need the room again," she told Thor and Frigga.

* * *

"Oh, why isn't it working?" Arianna cried as she tried for the fifth time to draw the Tesseract's power into herself. "I did it easily earlier."

"Earlier you had not depleted your own energy," Loki said. "Your body is simply tired as is your mind."

Loki had been watching her struggle for over thirty minutes now. Perhaps he was not meant to be healed that night. Pain was not new to him, so he could endure it.

"How did you end up with Thanos?" Arianna asked softly.

"I was . . . I fell off of the Rainbow Bridge in Asgard."

"The what?"

"It's a bridge to other realms – or dimensions, as Midgardians call them."

Loki explained that he and Thor had been fighting and then Thor had destroyed the Bifrost. Both Loki and Thor had been hanging over the edge and Odin had stepped in. Loki had let go.

"And you woke up in a hell dimension?"

"If I'd had it my way, I wouldn't have woken up anywhere."

Arianna froze where she sat with the Tesseract in front of her, the blue cube shining bright but still not usable.

"You wanted to kill yourself?"

Instead of answering directly, Loki said, "When I was a child I would spar with Thor. We had little toy swords and battle armor for children. He always won due to brute strength. Odin would pit us against each other in all things physical until I eventually just stopped fighting him."

"Did Odin get angry?"

"Yes."

Loki didn't know what he was doing. He shouldn't have said any of that. He didn't open up to people and especially not people he'd just met. He blamed it on the pain he was in and the gratitude he tried not to feel for this girl for caring enough to help him. The extreme exhaustion didn't help him hold his tongue much either.

"So, Thor is a warrior," Arianna said. "And you? What did you like to do?"

Loki was surprised to find Arianna was looking at him, now with open curiosity. She wasn't just asking; she really wanted to know.

"I spent most of my time in the library or studying magic with my mother.

"In Asgard, men are expected to know how to fight; that's how they are recognized as men – it's how they are ranked. If you don't know how to fight . . . Well . . . it is frowned upon."

"And magic?"

"It's considered underhanded. I can fight hand-to-hand if I must, but magic is my strength, so I use it when I fight."

"I see nothing wrong with that."

"Of course not. You're a woman," Loki said.

Loki noticed his remark made Arianna tense up and he realized how condescending he must've sounded.

"I assure you, I didn't mean that the way I said it. I only meant that it was normal for women to study magic. Not so for men. There are very few warriors who are female."

"Hm. Well . . . I hate fighting so I would fit right in there. And I don't consider what I do magic. Others might see it as such because they don't understand how it's done, but . . . to me it's as natural as breathing. Or it normally is."

Loki realized that he knew next to nothing about this girl – and to him she _was_ a girl. He was almost fifteen-hundred-years old and she was barely over twenty.

All the other Avengers Loki had looked into before attempting to fight them, but Arianna had been called in only slightly before the attack on the city so he hadn't thought to ask Barton about her. He hadn't even known she existed.

She was, by far, the most interesting of the Avengers. She had so much power, yet to look at her made one think otherwise.

She was treating him like a friend would even though they couldn't be friends. They barely knew each other.

"Why're you being so nice to me?"

"Why not?"

That was the same answer she'd given earlier when he'd asked her why she was doing everything she could to heal him. It was infuriating.

"Don't give me that. I tried to take over your world. I destroyed half this city. You have every right to hate me. Aren't you angry? Do you not want revenge?"

To Loki's surprise, the girl laughed softly.

"You forget, Loki, that I saw into your mind. I know enough to know that you're psyche was messed with enough to twist you into something you really aren't. And you're right. I could hate you, but I choose not to. Hate is a poison, one of the most lethal kinds.

"And correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the feeling that you hate yourself enough for everyone. We don't need to do it for you."

For some reason, unknown even to Loki, her response made rage flow through his veins.

"Why do you care?" he almost yelled. "What are you getting out of this?

Loki noticed with some satisfaction that Arianna had flinched when he'd raised his voice. That was when he realized the conundrum that was Arianna. She was both one of the boldest and most easily frightened people he'd ever met. She didn't care for confrontation and she'd rather not actually do the confronting herself.

"I care because . . . I don't know. I don't really have a good reason. I just care about people. I don't like seeing people hurting or suffering when they don't need to."

This she said softly as if she were trying not to wake a sleeping child, but then she looked at Loki more serious and almost glaring.

"As for what I'm getting out of it . . . it's peace of mind. I don't help people just because they need help. I help because I can, because I have the power to. I find it revolting that there are so many people who can help but choose not to, for whatever reason.

"So to ease your troubled mind, this has nothing to do with you. I'm trying to heal you for the sole purpose that you are suffering and I can end it. It makes _me_ feel better when I help those in need.

"Now, if you don't mind, please shut up. I'm trying to work."

* * *

Okay, so here's the latest offering. I really like the last part where she tells Loki what's what!


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, I cannot apologize enough for how long this has taken me. Just know that I've had major writer's block with this story. I think it's gone, at least for a while, but still. I am so sorry! I love Loki, but it is so hard writing him. I hope he wasn't OOC in this.

Chapter Five

The next day Arianna focused on healing Loki's burns. She'd let Frigga and Thor stay in the room with her since she knew they were leaving that day. Plus she didn't want to be alone with Loki. He had gotten under her skin the night before and she was still a little irritated with him.

Loki had been right about one thing, however, and that was that she hadn't been able to draw power from the Tesseract the night before because she'd been too tired. She had since slept and was using it fine now.

She worked on Loki for only a few hours and then she left him. It was now time to go out and see how much destruction had actually been done.

"Oh, God," she said as she stepped out of the building.

She hadn't really seen everything the day before. There were buildings still smoking from yesterday, and there were piles of rubble on the ground from the buildings and the streets having been hit. Most of the buildings around this area were businesses or restaurants and things like that.

Police were still out, so she guessed they didn't have a total number of deaths yet.

"Let's go," Natasha said. "Tony has a helicopter waiting for us. We'll go to the closest hospital and work our way out."

They had to cross the street and use the helipad there because the one on Tony's tower had been destroyed. As they walked, Arianna began to feel as if she were in a movie about the end of the world. The apocalypse had come to New York.

She felt like crying, but tears were for victims and people who had time to cry. Arianna, however, had a job to do.

"We've got clearance, right? No roadblocks?"

"We should be good."

* * *

When all was said and done, the injured were numbered in the hundreds, as were the dead. Arianna healed all children first and then she moved onto the adults. In both cases she worked down from the most injured to the least injured.

She spent about two hours each day with Loki and by the end of the week his burns were gone as were the lacerations. The only physical ailment left were his broken ribs.

She brought him his meals each day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – and he was now up to eating solid food. She noticed he had quite the sweet tooth when she brought him some ice cream and a small piece of pie for dessert once. He'd asked for more and had neglected his dinner.

On the day Fury was supposed to come and retrieve Loki, Arianna brought Loki pancakes for breakfast. He didn't know what they were, but he'd enjoyed them. Arianna had basically drowned them in syrup. Loki was able to eat only one and then Arianna ate the rest.

"Those were mine," he said, though Arianna could tell he didn't mind, really.

"I made them," she reminded him.

"They were quite delicious."

"Thank you."

"So . . . Fury is supposed to come today. I'm not sure exactly what that means," she said. "He'll probably take you away and lock you up. I don't think he'll put you with other people, so you'll be safe at least . . ."

"Or they might just torture me some more," Loki said softly. "Even mortal, I have much information that could be useful."

"Then . . . don't let them know."

Arianna didn't know why it made her almost want to cry at the thought of Loki being hurt further, but it did and she had to take a deep breath to steady herself.

"Pretend to have memory loss if you have to, but don't let them know you know anything that they don't."

Arianna was under no delusions of thinking SHIELD was all good. It was a government agency and therefore could get away with a lot of things nobody should be allowed to do. They would torture him if they found need of it.

"Would you like to go outside? If you don't today, you might not be able to for a while."

Loki considered for a moment and then smiled weakly. "That would be nice."

* * *

Loki didn't know what he had expected, but being allowed to go out of the building without any restraints wasn't it. He hadn't expected the other Avengers to let Arianna go out alone with him either, but there they were.

They'd just stepped out of Stark Tower and onto the sidewalk, and Loki suddenly wanted to go back inside. Things outside were horrible. Buildings had been destroyed and roads had been turned to rubble. The costs of the war he'd brought upon this city . . .

He really shouldn't have left the tower. What if someone recognized him? They would probably try to kill him. Try and fail, because he knew Arianna would never allow harm to come to him while under her watch.

"This isn't what I want you to see," she said softly. "But we need to cross the street to get to the helipad."

"We're going to fly?"

"For a little bit. Low enough so you can see things. I don't know if you should be walking around outside."

Loki couldn't help the relief he felt at Arianna's suggestion. He _shouldn't_ walk around outside.

Once they had reached the helipad and the helicopter and were in the air, Loki felt a freedom he hadn't felt for a long time. He'd learned to fly when he was just a boy – not a helicopter, of course, but they did have flying machines in his homeland.

Arianna was silent for the most part until they had been in the air for a while. She didn't even seem to enjoy the view, and what could be seen now was beautiful.

"May I ask what is bothering you?" he asked.

"I hate this," she said immediately. "This . . . us giving you up to Fury. I mean, no . . . you're definitely not the most upstanding citizen, but you were pushed into this, pushed into coming here and trying to take over. You would've been tortured if you hadn't. Most people would've done the same as you have."

Loki stared at her. Arianna had this way about her that made Loki feel he was cared about. His heart both craved it and rejected it at the same time. If he was being honest with himself, Loki knew he craved affection from someone who could love him for what he was – he was nowhere near as bad now that Thanos wasn't playing with his mind, but he was far from what a normal person would consider _good_.

Arianna could accept him as he was, but he also had to admit that such open affection wasn't completely welcome. Feelings got in the way of other things.

Besides, right that instant he was only feeling gratitude. This girl had done more for him in a week than many had done in his entire lifetime. His thankfulness wasn't misplaced.

* * *

Fury was already at Stark Tower when Loki and Arianna got back. Arianna came to a halt and she felt Loki run into her before he stopped as well. He'd barely touched her back and she barely moved.

Fury stood between two agents, one of which had a gun. Tony was there, as were the other Avengers – minus Thor.

"Is the gun really necessary?" Arianna asked. "He's in no shape to put up a fight."

"The gun is not for him," Fury said, firm but also somewhat uncertain. "It's to insure that _you_ don't put up a fight."

"Me?"

Arianna was honestly confused about this. _She_ wasn't a threat to anyone.

"Yes. My . . . superiors are not happy about you siding with the man that attacked this city. Consider this a warning. You were dangerously close to treason."

"I was doing what I knew to be right," she said.

"Not to mention, she'd promised Loki's mother that she would take responsibility for his healing," Tony said. "Who knows what would've happened had she refused?"

"Indeed," Fury replied. "I wasn't finished. Agent Grace is a valuable asset to this team. One I don't wish to lose. The council and I agreed that she could very well help . . . the Asgardian . . . acclimate himself to our ways."

"What?"

"In exchange for information Loki can remain free. He'll be under constant surveillance, of course. Agents Romanoff and Barton will be watching him. Everyone will remain here, and –"

Tony interrupted. "I think everyone keeps forgetting that this is my house."

Fury ignored Tony's words. "If you are amenable," he directed at Arianna, "I will alert the council and things can proceed as usual."

Arianna looked at Natasha and Clint. "Guys? Are you willing to give up time to do this?"

Arianna already knew her answer was yes, but it wouldn't matter unless the others went for it as well.

Natasha agreed. Arianna knew it was only because Fury had asked it of her and not because she had any real desire to do so. Clint agreed because Natasha had.

"Tony?"

Arianna turned to him now. This _was_ his home. He could turn them all out at any time, and Arianna wouldn't blame him.

"You guys haven't been too much of a nuisance," Tony quipped. "You can stay. But no touching my stuff."

Arianna grinned. "Seeing as to how I don't know how to use most of your stuff, that won't be a problem."

She then turned to Loki, who had been strangely silent throughout the entire exchange, only to find that he'd wrapped his arms around himself and was staring suspiciously at Fury and the two agents with him.

"Loki?" She touched his arm gently. If he'd withdrawn into himself, she didn't want to alarm him. "What's wrong?"

"Why?" he asked. "Why not lock me up?"

"Information," Fury answered. "As long as you cooperate . . ."

Arianna tensed, as did Loki. Each had a different reason for becoming tense. Arianna was angry, but not surprised, that the people she worked with would stoop to threats to get what they wanted. She was also angry that Fury and his superiors were no better than the monster named Thanos.

Loki had tensed because of the threat itself. It had reminded him of the words Thanos had said about him failing to conquer Midgard. There would be pain. He was in the same situation now with another enemy.

"Loki. Just say yes, and you can stay," Arianna said. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."

"Okay," he said. "I accept the arrangement."

* * *

That night Arianna made plans with Tony to have someone get her things from her apartment in Washington D.C. and to have them brought to the tower. She also needed to break her lease, which she was going to get Fury to take care of since it was his fault she had to relocate in the first place.

She'd talked Tony into giving Loki an actual room, but she hadn't thought the room would be right next to hers. She didn't mind, really, but still . . . if they didn't sleep in rooms that were so close, they wouldn't have half as many encounters as they were destined to have.

That first night Loki caught her before she could make her way into her own room.

"Miss Arianna . . ."

His voice stopped her. He'd never said her name before, had never even shown that he'd thought to _remember_ her name, but here he was using her name with what could only be described as respect.

"Yes, Loki?"

She turned to him. He was standing, a little slouched over, in his doorway. He didn't have any hostility in his face or eyes, so she assumed it was safe to approach him.

When she reached him he grabbed her hand, which she hadn't expected at all, but he was being gentle and careful so she didn't pull away. When he set his lips upon the back of her hand for a brief few seconds she froze.

She felt heat travel up her neck and settle upon her cheeks. She could tell Loki noticed because he gave her a slight smirk as he lowered her hand back to her side. She would've been angry, but she couldn't see a hint of an ulterior motive in Loki. She would've felt it from the skin-on-skin contact if he'd had a negative reason for kissing her hand.

"Thank you," he said. "For everything you've done for me, for what you're still doing. I don't quite understand why you're doing it, but I don't think I have to. My mother said I should befriend you because you have a good heart. I do believe she was right."

Arianna had no clue what she was supposed to say to any of this. No one had said such things to her before without wanting something in return. What did one do in a situation like this?

"Um . . . thank you?" She sounded unsure to her own ears. She had no idea what Loki would think, and she told herself she didn't care.

"There's no need to be nervous. It's just a thank you."

Loki gave a small but genuine smile, and Arianna answered with her own.

"Well, you're welcome," she said sincerely. "Good night, Loki."

* * *

Okay, so Tony may or may not have put them so close together on purpose! I really like the end scene where Loki shows his appreciation, but this is also the scene I think he may be a little OOC. I'm not sure because we've never really seen anyone treat Loki the way Arianna has, so I have no knowledge to pull from to write him that way.

As always, let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Arianna's life went on undisturbed by the fact that Loki was there. For the most part she even enjoyed having him around, if only for the fact that she felt she was doing something useful in helping him.

She also didn't hate the fact that she was living with Natasha. Tash was her best friend, but they didn't usually get to spend a lot of time together since they weren't usually called to the same missions. The New York fiasco had been an exception.

The other Avengers were nice company as well. Steve kept to himself mostly, but he was nice and polite when he did talk with Arianna – though he sometimes treated her like a kid, which probably had to do with the time jump he'd had to deal with. Bruce spent most of his time with Tony, in the lab in the basement. Natasha and Clint spent their time together with Arianna unless she was with Loki, though Natasha remained nearby when Arianna was with the Asgardian.

On this particular morning Arianna was in the kitchen making herself some toast and a fruit salad to go with it – she was making enough fruit salad for everyone, actually. She'd been the first one up and had made a pot of coffee. The aroma had pulled Tash out of bed as well as Steve. Arianna almost grinned at the mess that was Tash's red hair. The woman hadn't even taken the time to brush it.

Steve's hair wasn't in place either, but it didn't matter. It was so unfair that people with short hair looked okay even if their hair was a mess.

"Jarvis? Can you tell Tony and Bruce that there's coffee ready if they want some?"

"Yes, Miss Grace."

She smiled, remembering the first time Tony had spoken to Jarvis in front of her. She hadn't known what to think when Jarvis had responded. She'd basically praised Tony's genius after he'd explained what Jarvis was exactly.

Over the few weeks she had been there, Tony had taken to treating Arianna as if she were a kid sister, which basically meant that he teased her constantly but was also protective. In fact, he was protective to the point of almost being paranoid. It didn't really disturb Arianna at all, so she let him get away with it. If _knowing_ she was safe gave Tony Stark a small amount of security in his mind, she would allow him to do what he deemed necessary.

Once Arianna's fruit salad was prepared, she took it and her toast to the living room where she sat on the couch and began to eat. After she was done eating, Arianna took a medium-sized bowl of fruit to Loki's room. He had yet to come out to socialize with all of the Avengers. In fact, he barely talked to anyone that wasn't Arianna. She didn't know what to make of that, but it probably had something to do with the fact that Loki seemed not to trust anyone else but her – if trust was the right word for what he felt for her.

She knew that he at least enjoyed her company.

* * *

Loki was reading when Arianna brought him his breakfast. She'd had the Man of Iron buy a set of books that would help Loki learn more about _earth_. He had to admit Midgardians were adept enough, considering they didn't know magic existed. From how many wars he'd already read about, it was probably a good thing humans couldn't do what Loki could. Or . . . what he'd be able to do before he'd been made human.

It seemed Midgardian's leaders would fight over anything. It reminded him of the time Thor had raced off to Jotunheim to declare war on them. It would've caused war against all of Asgard had Thor's antics worked. Granted, Loki had played his own part in that, but still . . .

He looked up when Arianna came in. She gave him a small smile and came over to the bed and sat on the edge. She offered him a bowl of fruit, which he accepted and gingerly picked at. Some of the fruit he recognized because they were also grown in Asgard, others he asked about as he came across them.

"We're going to have to get you acquainted with the kitchen so you can learn to make what you want and not just what I make."

"I like the food you make," Loki said.

It was true. Arianna never made any complicated meals, but they always satisfied. Besides, as a prince of Asgard, Loki had no knowledge of cooking.

"Be that as it may . . . you still need to know. And it's okay to come out of your room. It isn't meant to be a prison cell."

"I am under constant watch," he reminded her. "And I am still not at my best."

"Well . . . no one's going to attack you," she said gently. Then with humor, she added, "I think everyone is scared of what your mother would do if something happened to you here."

Loki shook his head. "It would depend on whose fault it was."

"Hm."

Arianna stayed long enough to let Loki finish eating and then she immediately stood up. Before leaving she said, "In all seriousness, you should come out. We could watch a movie or something."

Loki had read about movies – basically it was a moving picture – but he had yet to watch one. Maybe he could try just once. If he didn't like it, he would just say so and he knew he'd never have to watch another one.

Loki carefully got off of the bed and went to his closet to pick out an outfit. Arianna had ordered him clothes the first day he'd agreed to stay with the Avengers. Loki had to admit that Midgardian attire was easier to get into, but it left Loki feeling vulnerable and exposed. How did Midgardians feel safe without armor on at all times? On Asgard, the only time Loki's armor came off was at night when he was sleeping, and even then he took precautions to insure his safety.

He decided on a dark blue sweater and a pair of black jeans, which he had to admit he looked good in. He went without shoes and found the sensation not unpleasant. He'd seen Arianna go around barefoot at all times of the day; many times she visited fully clothed aside from her lack of shoes.

She'd definitely made herself at home in Stark Tower

* * *

Arianna had just put the first Harry Potter movie into the DVD player when Loki came into what would be the living room in a normal home. The room had since been fixed from when it had been destroyed by the war that had been brought to New York.

Tony had taught her how to use the TV because he had a remote that controlled all the electronics in the room – even the lights. Arianna didn't know why Tony couldn't have just invested in a light switch. When she'd voiced her opinion he'd given her a sarcastic grin and had called her cute.

"You said I could join you," Loki said.

Arianna nodded. "You'll like this, I hope. There's magic in it, though not the type you're used to."

"The type you're accustomed to then?" Loki assumed.

"Not really, though I can do some of the things in the movie," Arianna admitted.

"So you can make things float?" Tony asked, suddenly appearing in the room. Bruce was with him; they had just come from the lab.

"Depending on what I'm making float," Arianna answered. "And I've never actually done it, but theoretically I know how."

Arianna wasn't surprised that Tony had known what she and Loki had been talking about. There were cameras everywhere in Stark Tower and Tony could pull up the video feed from pretty much anywhere.

"Would you mind testing that theory while you're living here?" Tony asked. "I just wanna know why you can do what you do."

Arianna knew Tony was coming from a place of genuine curiosity and that he didn't want to use her for anything. She also knew he was asking her respectfully. If she'd been anyone else, he probably would've mentioned that he was letting her live there for free while also having her every need met with _his_ money, but he hadn't said a word.

"I don't mind furthering your research," she said. "Better you than Fury and the science team at SHIELD."

"And Banner? He'll want to take your pulse and check brain waves and such."

Bruce looked uncomfortable for a slight moment, and Arianna grinned. He'd obviously known nothing about Tony's request until just now. It was kind of cute and ironic that the guy that could turn into the Hulk was so bashful when he wasn't green and smashing things.

"It's fine," Arianna said. Then seriously, she said, "I have a few conditions, though, because I've heard about how excited you get when you start a new project. You can act like a kid with a new toy."

Tony looked as if he agreed with that statement, so Arianna felt confident enough to continue.

"I am not a toy and I'm not a machine. I have limits, so . . . I guess these are my conditions: One, I want to know what we do before we do it, and two, no pushing if I say no."

Tony agreed almost immediately and then he said, "What exactly do you think I want to force you into? I gave up world domination years ago."

Arianna rolled her eyes at Tony's joke and responded with, "Just covering my bases."

* * *

After Arianna and Tony came to an agreement, which didn't take long, Arianna was finally able to play the movie. Natasha watched the movie with them, even though Arianna knew Natasha wasn't much into movies – especially ones like Harry Potter. Arianna didn't know why Natasha was being so protective when Loki really wasn't a threat at the moment. If he'd had his powers Arianna would've completely understood, but as it was . . . even Arianna could beat Loki, and she couldn't fight to save her life.

By the time the movie ended, Arianna had decided to get Loki the Harry Potter series for him to read. She knew he liked to read because he had responded well to the encyclopedias she'd gotten him already. After having been inside Loki's head, she'd found out more than he'd be comfortable with, but she couldn't help that. It had helped her decide how to approach Loki. Helping him understand the world he now lived in would make him feel less helpless.

Now she could help him find something everyone had heard of. He could learn their culture and try to fit in if he so desired. She could introduce him to other movies – her favorite ones and ones she thought he would like. She could show him music – she didn't know if Asgard had music, but maybe it could help find peace and calm; music always relaxed her and made her feel settled no matter the situation she found herself in.

That night, before Arianna went to bed, Natasha stopped her and asked to come into her room. "Sure, Tash, what's up?"

"Loki."

"What about him?"

The two women sat down on the bed and Arianna gave Natasha her undivided attention.

"Loki is better now, right?" the red head asked. "I mean, there's nothing more you can do for him. He has to build up strength himself."

"Yeah. I mean, I could share energy with him, but there's no need. He's awake and able to eat and drink. It would sort of be a waste of time."

Natasha smiled slightly. "Yes. It would be."

"What's this about?" Arianna asked.

If Natasha was taking the time to have this conversation, it meant she had something to say. Tash wasn't one for idle chitchat.

"Aries . . . you are _good_. Loki is _not_. He killed eighty people in two days. He didn't blink; he didn't flinch. He will destroy you."

"No, he won't. You can't destroy something that's already broken."

"Aries . . ."

"What? It's not like I _like_ him or anything. I feel sorry for him, okay?"

Arianna didn't trust guys enough to get close to them, and she didn't really believe in love – not the romantic kind anyway. Her mom and dad had divorced when she'd been young and she hadn't learned love from either of them.

In fact, she'd never really seen a relationship last, and the only one she'd ever been in had ended badly. After that she'd given up on romance as a lost cause and a waste of time. She'd focused on helping people, which was what she did best.

"You can feel sorry for him if you want to," Natasha said. "But don't coddle him. He's not a pet."

"I'm not coddling him."

"You bought him books. You're watching movies with him. You're going to buy him the Harry Potter series so he –"

"He likes to read!" Arianna said, almost shouting. "And I didn't buy him anything. It was Tony's money that I used. Besides, Fury said I was to _acclimate_ him. He needs to know things about this world."

"Harry Potter?"

"Everyone knows about Harry Potter."

Natasha sighed and Arianna watched as Natasha's body deflated from losing its purpose for being in the room.

"All I'm saying is . . . be careful. Okay? I've been alone with him. He can get in your head."

Arianna smiled then. She knew her friend was coming from a place of love and that Natasha was just looking out for her.

"Tash . . . I think you forget the fact that I can get inside his head too."

* * *

Over the next few days, Arianna and Loki spent time going over things he would need for everyday life.

He had, of course, learned about the shower within the first few days he'd been strong enough to stand on his own. Loki preferred baths, and until arriving on Midgard he'd never taken a _shower_. No such thing existed on Asgard. Loki had always had servants to draw his bath for him, but he did like the knobs Midgardians had that controlled the temperature of the water.

It was practical and convenient; it beat having to boil water to pour into a tub and then having to wait so one wouldn't scorch one's self.

Loki had also been introduced to an invisible person named Jarvis – or at least Loki had assumed the voice had belonged to a person until Arianna had explained what exactly Jarvis was. It was brilliant. Loki didn't like the fact that Tony Stark could pull up an image or video from anywhere in the tower, but he did appreciate the genius behind it.

This particular day, Arianna was showing Loki around the kitchen. Mostly she was just letting him know where everything was, so if he needed something he would know where it was located. That was easy enough to remember.

On Asgard there wasn't anything remotely like an oven, a microwave, or a refrigerator, but they were all brilliant inventions. Loki was used to a pit of fire for cooking – not that he knew how to cook, but he knew what was needed – so the oven was a nice touch. One was able to control the heat by setting the degree one needed for a specific dish.

The refrigerator was practical and kept things from spoiling when left over. Asgard should invest in such things in the future.

He wasn't sure about the microwave. It was brilliant, of course, but it didn't seem healthy. He didn't understand how it worked, so he didn't trust it.

As it was, Arianna had shown him how to use the toaster and they were both slathering butter and jam over the toasted bread.

"Is there anything you want to do today?" Arianna asked. "Maybe watch another movie or something. I have to go down to the lab, but I can set you up before I go. I can show you how to use the DVD player and the TV. Or I can show you how to use the computer."

Loki didn't really want to do any of those things. He didn't mind movies or TV, though he thought people needed to be careful in choosing what to watch; some of the things he'd seen could only be called moronic and probably lowered the intelligence of the people who regularly watched them.

He didn't mind reading, but it seemed to him that the only thing he'd been doing was reading.

"Do you mind if I come with you?" Loki asked. "I'm interested in what Midgardians consider science. Maybe you could teach me the computer later."

Arianna smiled softly. Loki's gaze fixed on her face when he noticed that when she was genuinely happy, as she was now, her green eyes would dance with light.

To be honest, he didn't know why she was being so nice to him. He'd heard her arguing with her red-headed friend. He knew Agent Romanoff didn't agree with Arianna treating him as well as she was – and he didn't understand why she was being as kind as she was – but Arianna hadn't changed despite knowing how her friend felt.

Loki didn't know what he would've done had Arianna begun to show hatred or indifference toward him. She was the only thing making his stay on Midgard bearable. He didn't really miss Asgard, but it was his home; it was what was familiar to him. His mother was there and he _did_ miss her.

Arianna was what was familiar here. She was what he clung to so that he would not be completely alone.

"I'll teach you the computer. Will you teach me about you and your people? I mean, you're from a different realm."

Loki could see the obvious curiosity Arianna was expressing. She was sincerely interested in learning for the sake of learning.

"Can I come with you to the laboratory?" he asked, sounding like he would be trading information for the trip downstairs.

"Yeah," she said. "This isn't a prison, Loki, whatever it may seem. You don't have to stay in your room or even on this floor."

Loki did want to explore, but he wasn't up to his usual strength yet.

That's when it hit him. He didn't know what his usual strength was anymore. He would no longer have the strength of a god. He would have only human strength. He wasn't sure what that meant. He knew, though, that he would probably be one of the weakest ones there.

The patriotic one had the power of science making him strong; Dr. Banner could become a green beast when angry enough; Agent Barton was an excellent archer and a fair fighter; Agent Romanoff also knew how to fight and could probably wield any weapon one put in her hands; Stark had his suit of iron that he could call on in an instant; Arianna had her powers even if she didn't know how to use them to her advantage yet.

Loki could fight, but he'd relied mostly on his magic. He'd told Arianna that once, and it wasn't a lie. Most of the men on Asgard were big and burly like Thor. They had their build to work with, whereas Loki was lean and tall.

He was brought back to himself by hearing the clang of dishes being put in the sink. Arianna was done with her breakfast and she was waiting on him now.

Without another thought he took a large bite of his toast. It wasn't polite to keep a lady waiting.

* * *

The first thing Tony did when Arianna and Loki got to the lab was attach Arianna to a heart monitor. He was also going to scan her brain waves so he could record brain wave activity while she did whatever it was she could do.

Tony explained what everything was – for Arianna's benefit – and then began to get started.

The first thing he said was, "Why's Reindeer Games here?"

Arianna mock-glared at him. "He wanted to come see the lab, and that's not his name."

"Right. Loki. My bad."

Loki didn't seem offended in the least. Tony was sure Loki didn't care what anyone thought of him, let alone what Tony thought. In fact, Loki seemed uninterested in anyone that wasn't Arianna.

"I am here to speak with you, Man of Iron," Loki said. "If you had directed your question to me, I would have more than happily answered."

Tony was shocked, to say the least. Loki had barely spoken ten words to anyone aside from Arianna, and now he was requesting a conversation with Tony.

"It can wait until you are through with this . . . session of experimentation."

"Research," Tony corrected. "Not experimentation."

None of it would be documented; Tony was just curious. Plus, he didn't want to risk SHIELD hacking into his database and stealing information on their littlest Avenger. He wouldn't endanger her that way.

The elevator doors opened to reveal Dr. Banner, who was in a lab coat. He stepped forward and shyly greeted everyone.

"Is it all right if Bruce takes a blood sample?"

"Sure, but I can already tell you I'm A positive."

"That's good to know if you're ever bleeding to death," Tony quipped. "That's not why I want a sample though."

Arianna shrugged, and Tony gestured for Bruce to begin. Arianna wasn't kept much longer than that. Tony was testing her normal responses only. He wanted to know what her heart rate and brain activity were when she was relaxed. Only then could he compare it to results he hoped to get at a later date.

"Kay. You're all set," Tony said.

"That's it?" Arianna asked, a cute and confused look on her face.

"Yup. We can do other tests later."

She shrugged again and hopped off the hospital bed she'd been sitting on. She looked at Loki then, a question in her light green eyes.

"You don't have to wait for me," Loki said. "I'll find my own way back."

She nodded and gave them all a quick smile before heading to the elevator. Tony found the bond between Loki and Arianna interesting – troubling, but interesting nonetheless. Arianna hadn't given voice to her question, but Loki had understood her facial expression. He'd known her for almost a month and whether Arianna would admit it or not, she'd formed an attachment to the former god of mischief.

Tony didn't know what that meant.

"I mean her no harm," Loki said. Apparently Loki was just good at reading people.

"Good," Tony said. "Because if you hurt her, the kid gloves will come off and you'll be given to Fury so fast you won't know what hit you. And you aren't immortal anymore."

Loki nodded soberly. "That's why I wished to speak to you."

Tony looked at Bruce, who was pointedly pretending to study a drop of Arianna's blood that he'd placed on a slide and onto the plate holder of a microscope.

"Go on," Tony said.

"I am . . . _mortal_ now," Loki said. "I don't know what that entails. I don't understand myself in this . . . form."

Loki stepped forward then.

"I'd like to learn. I'll need your help. I need to know my strengths and weaknesses, my limits." Loki let a small grin grace his lips. "Research, Mr. Stark."

Because Tony Stark was ever the curious genius playboy philanthropist, he gave in.

* * *

Okay, so I really like the Natasha/Arianna scene and I also like protective Tony at the end. Um . . . I mentioned a little about what life was like in Asgard, but I don't know how accurate it is. From what I've seen in the movies, it's advanced in the science department, but they still ride around on horses and such, so . . . I took liberties with that. Anyway, let me know what you guys think.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Arianna jolted awake when she heard an alarm signaling someone had broken into the tower. She looked around, relieved to find that no one was in her room, and then she hopped up. SHIELD training involved having to learn to wake up under any and all circumstances, so Arianna was alert within seconds. She crept to her door, still in her pajamas, and slightly opened the door.

There was nothing in the hallway her room was located in, but it seemed that Loki had been alerted by the alarm too, because he was also peeking through a crack in his doorway.

"What's happening?" he whispered.

"I don't know," Arianna said. "Someone's here. The others will be looking as well."

Arianna went past Loki's room and was surprised when she felt him grab her wrist. She looked at him and was shocked to see the concern in his face.

"What?"

"I'll come with you," he said. "I can fight. You said that you don't know how."

"Well . . . No, I can't, but someone might get hurt, and I can help with that."

"Then maybe you should wait. You do not want to be caught in the crossfire."

Loki's logic was convincing, she had to admit. She would probably only get in the way. She didn't know how to fight at all, and she didn't have a weapon. Logically, she knew she should go back into her room and lock the door behind her, let the others deal with whatever this was, but she couldn't.

"Loki, they're my friends. I have to."

She gently withdrew her wrist from his grip and continued down the hallway towards the main room. When she got there she noticed nothing out of place, aside from the fact that Natasha, Clint, and Steve were in the middle of the room. They were all in their pajamas, but they each had a weapon: Natasha a dagger; Clint his bow and a quiver full of arrows; Steve his shield.

"Jarvis? What's going on?" Arianna asked.

When she didn't get an answer she looked to the three Avengers in the middle of the room.

"What's going on?"

"Jarvis is offline," Natasha said. "Has been since we tried contacting Tony a few minutes ago."

"Where is Tony?"

"In the lab with Banner."

"We have to get to them," Steve said. "Right now we're divided and they're only two people."

"One is not technically just a person," Loki said. "Banner is more than capable of protecting himself and Stark."

"Hate to say it," Clint said. "But he's right."

"You'd be surprised how often that happens," Loki quipped.

Arianna would've smiled at how open Loki was being at the moment, but it just so happened that that was the moment that the window looking out over the balcony was broken into as a few people crashed through it. There were about six people there, dressed in black, with guns. One of them launched a smoke bomb into the middle of the room, and the Avengers plus Loki covered their mouths as smoke filled the room.

Arianna dropped to the floor and began crawling in the direction of what she hoped was the hallway where her bedroom was located. She'd lost sight of the others, but she heard them coughing and moving around. She was coughing too, and getting dizzy from lack of clean oxygen.

Before Arianna could get far, someone grabbed her ankle and dragged her backward. She let out a small yelp of surprise and then an even bigger scream as she felt whoever it was grasp her shoulders and yank her to her feet.

A gloved hand covered her mouth and she tensed as her mind filled with panic. Who was this person, and what did he or she want? Why had they gone to so much trouble to get in here?

She was suddenly being dragged backwards through the slowly clearing room. She could see outlines of the others now. Most of the people in black had been disarmed by Natasha and Steve, and now they were fighting along with Clint and even Loki.

Now she just needed to get free. She did the only thing she knew to do. She lifted herself up and then made herself become dead weight in her captor's arms. It threw her captor off balance, and she dropped to her knees on the floor where she was able to scamper away.

She was grabbed by the ankle again, only this time she was able to turn and kick out. The shot reached the person's stomach, and a male grunt came from him. She kicked at him again for good measure, but he was ready for her this time and was able to block and catch her leg.

That was when she became aware of the shining silver dagger he was holding and fast arcing towards her thigh. She jerked away enough for his aim not to be completely true, but the blade still sliced through her bottoms and over her skin, deep enough for her to feel like fainting from the pain.

Instead, she screamed.

This seemed to cause the man to become angry because he suddenly slammed his fist down toward her. She clenched her eyes shut, anticipating the pain she was about to feel. She'd been hit before on missions – and sometimes during training – and she knew she could take it even if she probably would black out for a few seconds.

But she didn't because the blow never landed. In fact, the man's weight had been lifted completely off of her. When she opened her eyes she found out why.

The man that had been about to hit her had been tackled by Loki and they were grappling for the knife now. Loki looked dangerous and angry now, but he had none of the insanity he'd displayed a month ago when she'd first seen him.

No, he knew exactly what he was doing when he finally won the knife and plunged it into the man's side, twisting and yanking it up to ensure the man's death, as he spoke.

"I think you'll find the mistake you made was, in fact, hurting _her_ ," Loki said, knowing that all who heard it would hear the possessiveness he'd used while speaking.

He watched as the man went limp and stopped breathing. Loki stayed the way he was for a good fifteen seconds before checking for a pulse, and then turned to face Arianna, who had let out another scream, this one of pain.

Natasha and Clint had come to her, and Steve was on his way. The other people that had broken in had been killed as well, mostly with arrows or broken necks, Loki was relieved to see. He wouldn't be punished then, for killing the one that had hurt Arianna.

Loki went over to the others and knelt beside Arianna, who was bleeding profusely from the gash in her right thigh. Her usually tan skin was pale now, and her face held an expression of pain.

"Why does she not heal herself?" he wondered out loud.

"She needs a source of energy, and she refuses to take it from a human," Natasha said.

Loki, always quick on his feet, said, "The lab. There's plenty of energy down there."

Once the others realized that what he'd said actually made sense, Steve, who Loki still mentally called The Patriotic One, carefully picked Arianna up and they all went to the elevator, Natasha holding the shield now.

"Why did the intruders not cut the power?" Loki asked. "That would have been the smart thing to do."

"Jarvis was cut off," Natasha said. "Whoever broke in first . . . it wasn't the guys we fought or the alarm wouldn't have sounded until they smashed through the window."

"Maybe they hit the lab first," Clint suggested as they all stepped into the elevator.

Loki was surprised that no one said anything against him accompanying them. Then again, everyone was preoccupied with the crying girl in Steve's arms. Arianna didn't seem to be aware of her tears; she was more worried about not jostling her injured leg too much.

Loki wanted to ask if she thought she would be okay, but he also didn't want to do so in front of everyone else.

He would wait until he could get her alone.

* * *

Once they reached the lab they found both Tony and Bruce unconscious. Tony had a tranquilizer dart sticking out of his neck; Bruce had several in many places on his body.

Arianna hadn't known Bruce could be tranquilized, but there he was on the floor, seemingly peaceful.

Steve gently sat her down on one of the many tables there, and then he went towards the two scientists on the floor. Natasha and Clint followed him, and Loki stayed with her.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked quietly.

She nodded even as she swayed from the pain she was feeling. Arianna usually didn't have any negative wishes for anyone, but she was glad the one who had hurt her was dead. He wouldn't be able to hurt her or anyone else again.

"Thanks for saving my life," she said.

"You've saved mine countless times," Loki said. "Consider it a returned favor."

Arianna grimaced from pain, though she tried to smile. "Or it could be that you consider me a friend, and you were looking out for me."

"Perhaps. Just don't tell anyone. I've got a reputation to keep up as a heartless monster."

"I think that ship has sailed," she said, swaying again.

"Maybe you should lie down," he suggested. "But don't go to sleep."

"If I lie down, I _will_ go to sleep. What I need is for Tony to wake up. Or for Jarvis to be put back on."

Arianna knew Tony had been working on finding a source of sustainable energy for Earth. He was trying to invent something much like the Tesseract, only not as volatile. If she could get her hands on it, she could heal herself quickly.

"May I see?" Loki asked. "The wound, I mean. We need to stop the bleeding. You've lost a lot, and I'm not sure what the limit is for a Midgardian."

"I'm . . . okay. Yeah."

Arianna wasn't sure what her limits were either. She knew she was dizzy and fading fast, and she did need someone to stop the bleeding until Tony woke up.

"You will have to lie down for this."

She did as she was told even though she was even more tense than before. Loki had drawn out the knife he'd used to kill her attacker and was now using it to rip through the right leg of her pajama bottoms.

Unwittingly, a whimper passed through her lips, and she clamped her mouth shut.

Loki heard it and just thought he'd moved her leg. He didn't see the fear on her face, and even if he had there was no way for him to know that she'd been stabbed many times – most of which had been because of her becoming a SHIELD agent – and so she didn't like knives anymore.

Arianna was glad and grateful that Loki was being clinical about this. He was more focused on stemming the blood flow than anything else.

After he'd ripped the pajama bottoms enough to reach the wound, he tore a strip off long enough that he could tie it around her thigh and keep the blood from coming out fast.

"Done," he said, "but keep still and do not sit up."

Arianna relaxed again, now that the knife was nowhere near her skin, and didn't go against Loki's advice. She probably shouldn't have been upright to begin with; it had only helped the blood flow out faster.

Natasha ended up by Arianna's side once she'd done everything possible to help Tony and Banner. They were fine and would be out for at least another fifteen minutes.

Arianna was set until then, and Natasha had a hard time admitting to herself that Loki was the one responsible for that. He'd also been the one responsible for saving Arianna's life earlier.

Everyone else had been too busy with the other attackers. Even though Natasha knew Arianna couldn't fight to save her life, she'd still taken her eyes off her friend and had left her to her own devices. She hadn't had a choice, really.

"Are you okay? We still have to wait for Tony and Banner to wake up."

Arianna nodded weakly. "I need Tony to let me draw energy from whatever he was working on."

Steve and Clint came over as soon as they were able, and they were all circled around where Arianna was lying.

"I still think you should take energy from us," Loki said. "All of us. You won't hurt anyone that way."

Arianna shook her head, but she didn't seem certain anymore. Natasha wondered if Arianna had ever thought about channeling from a group. It made sense, and she was all for it if it would close the wound on her friend's leg.

"I'll do it," Natasha said.

Clint nodded and Steve shrugged.

Still Arianna shook her head.

"Why not?" Loki asked, a note of impatience in his voice. "You do realize if the two over there don't wake up soon, you could die."

"I don't know how!" she exclaimed, putting more energy into her response than she probably should have.

Natasha noticed that her answer seemed to placate Loki, however, because he no longer seemed impatient; in fact, Natasha saw understanding flash over his face.

"I forget they don't train you in the art of magic on Midgard," he said, and put a hand on Arianna's leg. "Everyone put a hand on her. We will all be connected while she does this. If it works, you'll feel your energy draining into her."

"And what do I do?" Arianna asked.

"Start with one of us," Loki said. "Focus on one touch at a time until you've reached us all."

As it turned out, Natasha was the one Arianna reached out to first. It made sense because they were best friends, had been for almost ten years. Natasha had found Arianna when she'd been at her lowest point and when Arianna had only just found out about her ability to manipulate energy. Natasha had tried to help her and had somewhat succeeded.

As Natasha's mind connected with Arianna's the red head almost flinched. She'd never had her mind invaded before and she didn't want anyone seeing what was there.

"Sorry," Arianna muttered. "I've never done this when I was so weak."

Natasha relaxed when she felt the other girl's presence leave her brain. She could still feel Arianna's energy, but not Arianna's thoughts. That was better.

She eventually felt Clint's and Steve's presence as well, which made her feel oddly vulnerable, but it got much worse when Loki's energy merged with theirs.

It was worse because she could feel Loki's emotions. She realized then that Arianna was naturally connected with the former Asgardian. She'd formed a bond with him when she'd brought him out of his mind prison. It was worse for Natasha because through Arianna she could tell that even though Loki was all the things Natasha thought him to be, he was also what Arianna thought him to be.

He was a victim as much as he was a villain, and Natasha knew that meant that Loki might be redeemable because of that. He'd already found someone he wanted to protect. Whether he'd done it because he cared for Arianna or because he felt he owed her it showed that Loki did have a code of ethics he lived by.

Natasha had reason to believe that Loki wouldn't hurt Arianna – she wasn't sure about anyone else, however.

* * *

Arianna tried to keep her mind out of everyone else's, but it was hard because she was so weak she could hardly focus. In the end, she got flashes of memories from everyone.

From Natasha she'd gotten glimpses of some school for girls, though it must've been more than that because Natasha had been angry at and scared of the memory of the place.

Clint had been thinking about a family – his family. A farm house with acres of land. A wife, children. Arianna hadn't known that Clint had any family.

Steve had only one thing on his mind: A woman named Peggy. Agent Carter. Everyone knew the story of Agent Carter and Captain America.

Finally, there was Loki. She saw more from him because she'd been in his mind a few times before. It was much easier to connect with him because of that.

In Loki's mind now, Arianna could feel that no matter what Loki showed to the outside world, he was still plagued with memories from his year of torture, and why wouldn't he be? One didn't just get over something like that. Thanos had made Loki believe that no one had ever, could ever, care for him.

Since he'd been on Earth – or Midgard, as he still called it – he'd found someone who did care. He didn't want to admit it out loud, but he knew Arianna didn't take time out of her day to check on him and keep him company just because he was her responsibility.

He was awaiting, however, the moment that Arianna realized that she was dealing with a lost cause and would give up on him. Loki had been alone and tortured for so long that, until he'd met Arianna, comfort from an actual person had seemed a thing of mere fantasies.

Loki had believed that no one could ever understand why he'd done what he'd done in coming to Midgard and trying to conquer, but Arianna did. Because of her ability to see what had happened and even feel some of it, she did understand and she didn't hate him.

 _Of course I don't hate you_ , Arianna sent the thought to only Loki.

She had blocked Loki's thoughts and feelings from everyone else. In fact, since she was acting as a sort of filter, nobody had felt anybody else's feelings but her own.

After Arianna was healed – healed but still weak – the room fell silent. No one really knew what to say, it seemed. Arianna wanted to talk to Loki but knew he would not be open to conversation with everyone else around.

There was movement where Bruce and Tony had been lying. Bruce was awakening now, hands over his eyes, as if his head were aching. Side effect of the tranquilizer, maybe. He took the dart out of Tony's neck and then went about removing the darts from his own chest.

Tony came to not long after that and he was the first one to speak by asking what had happened.

"Someone broke in," Natasha said. "They were trained fighters and they were after Aries. There are a few bodies upstairs."

"She was hurt, but we helped heal her," Clint said.

"Bet that was awesome," Tony said, sounding disappointed to have missed it. "The healing, not the hurting."

Arianna smiled slightly. "I know what you meant." She looked around the lab. "Was anything taken?"

Tony went rigid and stumbled to his feet. He hurriedly went through all the tables around him, checking and rechecking for something.

"We were testing your blood," he said. "It's gone."

"Three guesses as to who has it," Loki muttered.

"SHIELD," Arianna whispered.

"No," Natasha said. "No way would Fury –"

"He did threaten me," Arianna said. "But I wasn't talking about him. The Council or Supervisors or whatever. If they knew about me . . ."

"Are you in danger?" Loki asked.

Arianna didn't know. She didn't want to believe her own people would go against her just because of how different she was . . . but it was more than possible for that to happen.

"If they believe me to be a threat . . . yes."

"We can protect you, though," Steve said. "We'll take turns watching over you."

Tony nodded. "Absolutely."

Natasha nodded as well. Arianna knew how hard this would be for her. Natasha looked to Fury as a father figure – to actively go against him would tear her apart inside.

Bruce would do whatever he thought was right; Clint would protect whoever he considered to be innocent.

"Loki?"

The black haired man shrugged. "I've already killed once to protect you. Nothing more needs to be said on where my loyalty lies in this situation."

She nodded. "Thank you."

A few seconds later Tony lightened the mood by opening his mouth.

"So . . . who's picking up the cleaning bill.?"

Arianna threw her hands up in a gesture of backing away from the responsibility.

"You're the millionaire here, so you."

* * *

Back upstairs now, the whole group was sitting around Tony's living room. None of them felt like sleeping, not even Arianna, who was definitely in need of rest.

When they had reached the living room, the first thing Tony had done was call someone to get rid of the bodies there. He'd take care of the cleaning crew in the morning.

"I think I need to teach each of you how to override a system shutdown," Tony said. "I was hacked into tonight, so I'll have to find a whole new program to work with."

"Yeah, um . . . the problem is that you and Bruce are the only ones smart enough here to pick up your technology quickly," Arianna said.

"We should start sparring again," Natasha said. "I know you hate fighting, Aries, but you need to learn. You could've been killed tonight."

"They didn't want me dead. They just didn't expect such a fight to keep me here."

The people who had broken in had indeed been SHIELD agents. The outfits they'd been wearing had told them as much.

"Sometimes, Arianna, death is a kindness," Loki said, and got up from his spot on the couch.

He'd been thinking about how he'd almost lost the only friend he had here. Maybe anywhere, to be honest. He hadn't even really thought about what he'd been doing when he'd killed that guy. He'd just known that Arianna had been in trouble and that he'd been the closest one available to help her.

He quickly went to his room and sat on his bed. He became lost in his own mind at once. So much had happened to him in the last year, most of it more than _not good_. Pain, _so much pain_. He had become something he'd never wanted to be. Something monstrous. He'd become a killer.

Hundreds of people had died because of his actions. He'd been in battle before, of course, but killing just to kill . . . that wasn't him. He was referring to the battle he'd brought to Midgard, of course.

"Please stop," Arianna's voice came from his doorway. "I can feel you thinking all the way in the living room."

He looked at her then. She was leaning against the wall; he could tell she was tired, though she was fighting against it.

"You feel my thoughts?"

"Uh . . . yeah. It happens after I connect with someone a few times. It'll fade eventually."

"Hm. And I . . . heard your thoughts earlier."

She nodded. "That doesn't happen often, but I thought you needed to hear it. I don't hate you. If I didn't know what happened, I might. But . . . after everything how can you not see that I _do_ care?"

Loki stood up then. "But why?" He hadn't meant to yell and he really hadn't meant for her to flinch. He didn't want her to be afraid. " _Why_ care about me? What could you possible gain?"

Arianna shook her head and seemed infinitely sad.

"You don't need a reason to care, Loki. And you don't care for someone just so you can get something from them. I don't know where you learned that, but it's wrong."

He knew that – within his whole being he _knew_ he'd always wanted someone like Arianna. He didn't deserve someone like her, but Odin, how he wanted. She gave and never expected anything, didn't even _want_ anything in return. She cared about him and only ever wanted him to be who he'd been before he'd found out who he really was.

"And who are you?" She moved forward. "And does it really matter? You've been given a new start."

This girl could ruin him.

"I agreed to help you because I know you're better than you let yourself be. You don't believe me because Thanos made you feel unlovable. But that's not true. If you didn't have good in you, you wouldn't have saved me tonight."

Every fiber of Loki's being wanted to believe her, wanted to look into Arianna's green eyes and get lost in the naïve faith she seemed to have, but he wouldn't allow himself that pleasure.

"Are you really so foolish as to accept a monster? You know no one outside this building will ever understand why I did what I did. They will never be able to forgive me. And SHIELD will never forgive you for siding with me."

Arianna scoffed and Loki saw a determination there that he'd never seen before.

"They are not my friends. They tried to kidnap me tonight. I know what will happen to me if they get their hands on me and I refuse to do what they want. _You_ know what will happen."

 _Pain_ , Loki thought, shuddering. Kind Arianna in so much pain, being used for someone else's gain. He wouldn't allow that. Not ever. Even if he had to burn SHIELD to the ground.

"No," she said. "Not everyone is a problem."

"Get out of my mind," he said, no real malice in his voice.

"Then stop thinking so much."

* * *

Okay . . . no story has ever given me as much trouble as this one and that's why it's taking me so long between updates. I just have so much trouble writing Loki. He's such an emotional character while not wanting people to think things bother him until he snaps and admits it, but still . . . I never know when it's too much. Anyway, like I said when I started this story, it's only going to be about 10 to 15 to chapters, and I do have a set goal for where this is going, so I just need to get it there!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Over the next week the Avengers and Loki worked out a schedule of sorts.

Tony was redoing his whole security system and having better windows installed. He didn't want a repeat of anyone breaking in to steal Arianna. She had to be protected.

Bruce picked up the new technology fairly quickly, as did Loki. The former god was practically a natural. He seemed intent on keeping Arianna safe, for which Tony was grateful.

Arianna had taken up sparring with Natasha. Tony watched sometimes, and he was glad Arianna had people who would fight for her because she really was bad at defending herself. Tony thought she just didn't want to hurt anyone. She had no survival instincts.

True, she could block most of Natasha's blows, but that only worked for so long. Arianna wore herself out quickly doing that, and Natasha didn't put the full force behind her movements. If the red head had wanted to hurt Arianna, she'd have had no problem.

Loki took up sparring, too, but Tony was surprised by how the violence of it didn't seem to excite him. Tony had thought Loki would be the type to get off on it, considering what he'd been like when they'd met.

Yes, Loki was almost brutal in his movements, but he expected no more energy than he had to. He was quick and precise, and he went for fatal blows. Loki didn't draw out the pain like he could have. He didn't enjoy torturing people. Loki didn't hurt anyone he sparred with, of course, but Tony could predict his fighting technique by the way he moved. Plus, he'd delivered a killing blow to the agent that had stabbed at Arianna.

That night Loki could have made the man suffer and yet he'd ended the man's life in seconds. So, yes, Tony could confidently say that Loki wasn't a torturer.

* * *

"You are a terrible fighter," Loki teased as Arianna slid out of the boxing ring she'd been in.

"Tell me something I don't know," she muttered.

Arianna had trained with Natasha before, but never as hard or as much as she had been since she'd been a target for kidnapping. Her body hurt, but she knew she had to push through it.

"Okay. You are a terrible fighter because you try to imitate what you are taught."

"Well, yeah. I'm learning from Tash, so . . ."

"You misunderstand me. Your body is not Agent Romanoff's body. You have to fight in a way that fits you. For example, I fight in a completely different style than Thor does. He uses brute strength. I fight . . . gracefully. In a way, it's almost choreographed. I have to get closer, move quickly."

"It's like a dance."

"In a way," Loki admitted reluctantly. "And you still need to learn to use your energy correctly."

"You mean my ability," she said. "Sadly, no one can really help me with that."

Loki grinned. "I can."

Arianna began walking toward a table that had bottles of water seated upon it. She picked one up, opened it, and took a few swallows.

"Can you help me control it?"

She noticed Loki hesitate. Did he doubt his ability to teach her?

"I can help as much as you allow me to help. This ability, if it is anything like my magic was, will require extreme concentration."

"Well, I can do that. I _have_ to do that every time I heal someone."

"And if you had to concentrate on harming rather than helping?"

That was the question, wasn't it? She never wanted to hurt anyone with her ability, not on purpose, not if she had any other option.

"We'll see. We'll _try_ ," she said.

And really, who else could help her with this? Loki was the best choice even if he was the only one.

* * *

That night Loki and Arianna met in his room. He'd never entered her room. Centuries of training and tradition engrained in Loki told him that unless a lady stated otherwise, a man should not go where he was uninvited.

That was complete rubbish, of course, because Arianna wouldn't have minded him going into her sleep chamber – or bedroom, as Midgardians defined it – but she had come to him.

"You said you can help me," Arianna said. "I want to know how. What do I have to do?"

Loki admired the determination he saw in her and knew that she really did want to learn.

"I can only show you how I learned, and my magic is – was – quite different from yours. Mine was illusion. Yours is very much real."

"Okay, but do you think I can learn the same way?"

"Maybe."

Loki gestured for her to sit on the bed. It was the only thing on which they could sit other than the floor. Loki had a bed, a closet, a dresser, and a bathroom, but not much in the way of furniture.

Arianna hesitated before sitting down, and then he sat beside her.

"Where did you learn your magic? Were you born with it or . . ."

Arianna shook her head. "Something happened to me, and suddenly I could do things I hadn't before. I read that if someone goes through something traumatic, sometimes they gain abilities. Almost like something in their brain is unlocked."

Loki had never heard of such a thing, but he wasn't from Midgard, so who knew if it was true or not.

"I spent many hours studying and practicing my magic," Loki admitted. "Mother gave me access to many books on the subject. I wish I could let you read them."

Loki had used most of his time on Asgard studying and perfecting his skill. While Thor had trained to be a warrior, Loki had become a Master of Illusion.

Training with Thor had never ended well. Loki had usually come away with bruises. One time Thor had unwittingly bloodied Loki's lip. Thor had apologized, of course, and Odin hadn't been pleased that Loki had been so easily hurt.

It had been one of the last times Loki had fought his brother while sparring. He'd always fought alongside his brother in battle, but he'd never given Odin the satisfaction of having them fight each other.

Loki was pulled out of his thoughts by the touch of Arianna's hand on his arm. He'd gotten lost in his memories and was thankful she'd distracted him. It didn't do to dwell on things he couldn't change.

"Were you listening in?" he asked.

"No," she said. "I try not to at all unless someone wants me to."

Loki shook his head while letting a smile grace his lips. If Loki could read peoples thoughts he would think nothing of another person's privacy. He would always want to know everything that was being thought because he hated not knowing things – and he was paranoid.

"Okay, I did hear that, and I think it's a good thing that you can't hear other people's thoughts. Sometimes you don't like what you hear."

* * *

Tony had just exited the elevator that led to his huge loft when Natasha basically ambushed him.

"Fury wants to come by tomorrow morning."

"No," Tony said.

The red head nodded. "Agreed. I told him that we'd come to him. You, me, Agent Barton, and the Cap."

"And leave the smallest Avenger alone?"

"She wouldn't be alone, but no, she'll want to come. I just don't know about leaving Loki alone."

Tony didn't really want to have a meeting with Fury, not after everything that had happened. Fury had been made aware of the break in at the tower but had denied any pre-existing knowledge. Tony didn't know if he believed the man.

After assuring Natasha that he'd go with her, Tony asked Jarvis to hack into SHIELD's database and to search for any existing files on Arianna. Tony knew next to nothing about her, and she wasn't upfront about herself.

He didn't need her life story or anything, but he did want to know why she was working for SHIELD and for how long she'd been an employee.

A half-hour later he had what he needed. Arianna had been recruited at age eighteen; she'd been an agent for ten years. They'd found her through a freak accident. A bus had turned over with children inside. No one had died, but Arianna had followed the injured to the hospital and had healed them. She hadn't been seen healing anyone, but people had made the connection anyway when all the wounded had miraculously been healed.

Natasha Romanoff had been sent to collect her. Politely put, she'd been sent to offer Arianna a job, but with SHIELD everyone knew there was no _offering_. You did what they told you or your life turned to crap.

There was a locked file under Arianna's name but it took only a few seconds to get it open. After seeing what was inside, Tony wished he'd left it alone.

Arianna's ability hadn't manifested until after she'd been hurt . . . after she'd been raped at age seventeen. There were medical records, police reports that stated how badly she'd been hurt. She'd been kept in a psych ward for a month because she'd withdrawn into herself. She hadn't been able to take care of herself. She'd refused to eat and couldn't sleep without nightmares. The doctors had been forced to feed her intravenously, and she'd been prescribed so many sedatives that she'd basically been put into a medical coma.

Tony didn't want to know this. He didn't want to know any of this. He did, however, want to know who had done it, which meant he had to continue reading it.

Once he'd finished, Tony knew what he wanted to know and he knew things he'd never wanted to know.

* * *

The next morning Tony made sure he got to SHIELD headquarters first because he wanted to talk to Fury before anyone else arrived.

"I've already told you, I knew nothing about the attack on your tower," Fury said.

"Hm. Just like you didn't know about the blood sample?"

"We already have samples of Agent Grace's blood. There would've been no reason to steal yours."

"Sure there would've been. You didn't want me to have it."

Fury didn't say anything to that, but he did speak. "There was a security breach last night."

Tony shrugged. "It's only fair. You guys hacked my tower – physically and technologically."

"You don't do things without a reason," Fury said. "What do you want.?"

"I want everything you have on Arianna Grace deleted from your database."

Fury's brow furrowed and he glanced at the computer on his desk.

"Why? There's nothing in it that concerns you."

"No. It should, however, concern you. Do you even know what's in the locked file? Well, locked but not safe. It took me seconds to break into it. A few key strokes and I was in. Medical files, police reports – you name it."

Something had changed in Fury's face. His usual confidence had been replaced by confusion. Did Fury not know of the locked file? There wasn't much that happened that Fury wasn't aware of, but it seemed Arianna was a mystery to the director.

Tony stood beside Fury and tapped a few keys on the keyboard to bring up Arianna's locked file. He hated showing it to anyone, but if anyone needed to know it was Fury. He may be able to help them in the future if anymore agents decided to go after the littlest Avenger.

It took Fury a few moments to read through the information on his computer. When he was finished Fury didn't speak immediately.

"This is news to you then?" Tony asked, not sure if he should believe him.

"Until Arianna told me, I didn't know she could do anything other than heal people."

There was a brief pause as Fury glanced at the screen again.

"Agent Grace . . . killed someone?"

"It seems that way."

"Does she know that you know?"

"No."

Tony had researched last night. He'd wanted to know the name of the man who had hurt Arianna. He'd found it.

The man had been older. By all reports, Arianna had known the man for years. She'd been groomed – that was what older men did when they were attracted to young girls; they bought them gifts and made them feel special, told them what they liked and expected nothing less. Arianna was so nice and caring, she probably hadn't suspected anything so wicked, and she'd fallen for it.

The man had waited, apparently, or maybe Arianna had learned to say no, because the night she'd been hurt there had been a fight. Something had happened to Arianna's rapist that the police couldn't explain. Arianna hadn't been arrested because there was no sign of a murder exactly, but there had been something else.

The man – if one could call the rapist a man – had been crushed to death by apparently nothing. Some of the bones in his body had been crushed, and his organs had burst. He'd had a quick but painful death.

Tony knew why Arianna refused to hurt people now and why she refused to do anything other than heal with her abilities.

"I want all of this deleted," he said. "From here and from their source. I know you can do it."

Surprisingly, Fury agreed without complaint.

* * *

The Avengers were just walking into SHIELD as Tony Stark was coming out. Arianna was the first to spot him and it brought her to a stop.

"We wondered where you were," she said.

She was in the middle of her group, boxed in between Natasha, Steve, Clint, and Loki. Banner had opted not to come in case he got angry.

"Yeah, uh, change of plans. Fury will be busy today, but I talked to him already. I believe that there's a lot going on here that he doesn't know about in this situation. He was made aware and is now on our side."

Arianna didn't know what to say to that, but Natasha and Clint seemed relieved and Steve seemed to accept Tony's words at face value. Loki seemed to just want to get out of there as quickly as he could.

Arianna would have grabbed his hand to offer comfort but she knew that with so many people present he wouldn't have accepted it.

"Fury promised to go over your files and delete anything incriminating," Tony said.

Arianna tensed. "Incriminating? What does that mean? I've – I haven't done anything."

The way Tony had spoken, though, had put Arianna on edge. She knew about everything SHIELD had on her – especially the file about the man she'd murdered.

No, not murdered. Killed accidentally. That was better. Murder meant she'd had the intention of killing him, and she hadn't. Not even after he'd hurt her had she wanted to hurt him back. She'd never wanted to see him again, but she hadn't wanted to hurt him either.

"He's getting rid of anything SHIELD can use against you," Tony said, about as gentle as Arianna had ever heard him be.

So Tony knew. He knew and he wasn't joking around with her like he normally did and he wasn't being his normal sarcastic self. He was being cautious and Tony Stark was never cautious.

Arianna felt the sudden need disappear. None of the people there had known before then aside from Natasha, but now Tony knew and Fury had obviously learned about it as well.

"Are we done here?" she asked, voice lower than she'd intended. "We had to wake up early for nothing."

She felt the others' eyes on her, but she didn't care. Once she knew they weren't going to have to stay at SHIELD she went back out the way she'd come in.

* * *

Arianna hopped out of the limo as soon as it stopped outside of the tower. She couldn't believe Tony had dug into her life like that.

Actually, she could believe it, but she didn't have to like it. Tony Stark was innately curious as most geniuses were, but he'd had no right to pry into her past. And why had he wanted to? What had happened to attract his curiosity?

It had to have something to do with the break-in and the consequent theft of her blood sample. He hadn't seemed interested in anything other than studying her ability before that.

Arianna made it to her room and slammed the door. She made sure to lock it behind her; she didn't want to be disturbed by anyone. Natasha had been following her, but Arianna didn't even want to talk to her, and Natasha was her best friend.

Arianna sat on her bed, scooted up close to the headboard, and brought her knees up to her chest. Arianna didn't know why she felt so angry, really, she just knew she hadn't wanted anyone to know she'd ever been violated in that way, and she definitely hadn't wanted anyone to know about her having killed someone.

No one had proven it and no one could ever prove it, but SHIELD had made the connection. They'd forced her to agree to work with them. They would've locked her up otherwise. Apparently she was a threat to society. No one could defend him or herself against her ability unless that person also had an ability – or unless they killed her

She didn't know how long she sat there, knees drawn up, but she knew it was long enough for her to have grown stiff. There were tears on her cheeks, too, and she hadn't been aware that she'd been crying.

A knock sounded from the door and she firmly told whoever it was to go away.

"Aries, open up."

It was Natasha. Arianna still didn't feel like talking, but she knew Tash would understand, so she got up to unlock and open the door. Natasha stood there, a stack of folders in her hands. She silently handed them over to Arianna.

"What're these?"

"Files. Tony's files. He made a dossier of everyone on the team. He's curious and paranoid. He didn't single you out or anything."

"No, but he opened a file he wasn't supposed to have access to! Those files were locked because I requested them to be, Tash. My medical files, the police reports – none of that was his business. The only reason you know is because you found me and we became friends."

"He hasn't told anyone," Tash said. "To be honest, I don't think he will. He wanted to know for the sake of knowing. He won't hold it against you or use it against you."

"You mean like SHIELD does – or did, or whatever."

Natasha didn't answer, which was answer enough. It was true that Natasha had never threatened her. In fact, in the strictest way possible, Natasha had become a mother figure to Arianna even though Tash was only a few years older than she was.

Natasha had warned her, though, that if she decided not to accept the job offer that SHIELD would have no choice but to arrest her. Her ability was something they didn't understand and couldn't control so they automatically wanted her on their side.

Arianna had agreed with the condition of letting SHIELD know that she would never harm anyone with her abilities, not if she could help it.

"Tony won't apologize," Natasha said. "He'll try to explain why he did it and justify it, but he won't admit he did anything wrong. He might not think it _was_ wrong. But he will make it up to you in his own way."

* * *

Later that night Arianna risked leaving her room. She'd wanted to avoid Tony for at least another day, but she was hungry and aside from that one brief period of her life she never resorted to harming herself because she was upset.

She made her way to the kitchen silently and made herself a sandwich. It was only when she'd put everything back in the refrigerator that she realized she'd been followed by Loki.

She jumped as she closed the door and saw him in the archway of the door. She almost dropped her sandwich.

"Loki, don't do that!" she scolded. "Make a noise when you walk."

"I wasn't trying to be silent," he claimed. "You were . . . distracted."

"I was hungry."

"Obviously."

Arianna sighed. She didn't want to play games, not that night.

"Why'd you follow me, Loki? Did you need something?"

"To see how you're doing?"

He made it sound so much like a question that it caught Arianna off guard for a few seconds. Loki didn't usually let it show when he was uncertain of something.

"You've been hiding away all day. I confess that I was . . . concerned."

The negative feelings she'd been feeling for Tony softened at Loki's admitting to having been worried about her.

"I'm fine, Loki. Tony surprised me, and I don't like it at all. Nothing to worry about, really."

A glimmer of a smirk made its way to Loki's lips. It was mischievous but not in a psychotic way. She didn't know what to make of it until he spoke again.

"I am known as the god of mischief, you know. I am aware when someone is lying."

"I'm not lying," she said automatically. "I'm being mostly honest."

"Tony's surprise upset you, that much is true. But you are not fine. Whatever he did, it would not have made you react as you have if you were fine."

Arianna sat down at the table, which seemed to invite Loki to sit as well. She began eating her sandwich so she'd have an excuse not to talk. She didn't have any such excuse once she was done, however.

"I don't want to talk about this again, Loki, but to put your already troubled mind at ease . . . Tony gained access to files he was never supposed to have access to. They had information on me and my past that I don't want anyone to know about."

She stood up, went to the freezer, and pulled out a pint of ice cream. She grabbed two spoons from a drawer, one for her and one for Loki. He liked sweets. It would have been rude to flaunt the treat in front of him.

They ate in silence, which was just as well for her. She didn't want Loki of all people to know her secret.

He had been tortured. She had been, too, in her own way, and she had hurt someone because of it. It didn't compare to Loki's own torture or his actions at all, but she still didn't want him to know.

* * *

Okay, so this is my latest offering. I know it's been forever, but to be fair to myself I have been in places where I haven't had access to a computer. My favorite part is probably Loki offering to help Arianna master her ability. I'm kind of iffy on the Tony stuff. Tony is my favorite Avenger - or consultant or whatever he's supposed to be - but I find him hard to write unless he's being sarcastic. Anyway, let me know what you guys think.

Also, I want to make this part of my story, so if someone can explain to me what exactly was going on with the reactor in Iron Man 2 I would appreciate it. I know it was draining his energy or poisoning his system or something because the toxicity of his blood was dangerously high to the point that it was killing him, but can someone explain that to me in a scientific type way?


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Tony and Arianna made up over the next week. Yes, she was still upset that he had looked something up about her, something he had no right to, but he hadn't mentioned it since and he hadn't used it against her. She hadn't thought he would, really, but that part of her life wasn't something she liked people knowing about.

Tony had insisted that no one would ever be able to use those files against her again. The files had been deleted from SHIELD's database and from their original source of origin. She had no idea how it had happened, but she was thankful nonetheless.

They continued her physical training and her ability testing, Loki now helping her with both. They had to build up her strength before she could continue sparring, but she was doing well with the magic part.

Tony tested her responses when she used her ability. Her heart rate elevated each time, but other than that there was no reaction in her body.

She wasn't being tested at all at the moment, however, and was enjoying a hot chocolate while watching a movie with Loki, who was also drinking a warm beverage.

"This is very satisfying," Loki said, taking a sip from his cup.

"Mm-hm. This is the good stuff, made with milk. They have the kind you make with water, but it's gross. It's supposed to have marshmallows, but Tony doesn't have any."

"Marshmallows?"

"Mm. Little soft-as-clouds sweets. Pure sugar, really."

Things were silent between them for a few minutes until Loki spoke again.

"You and Stark seem to be on agreeable terms again."

"We are. I still don't like what he did since he didn't have express permission, but I have forgiven him."

"But . . . SHIELD is no longer able to . . . use you. You no longer have to stay here, nor do you have to be responsible for me."

Arianna's cup stopped halfway to her mouth, and her attention snapped to Loki's face. He was trying to remain closed off, but she could see he didn't want her to up and leave.

"Loki . . . SHIELD never used me in a way I didn't want to be used. I healed people. I would've done that with or without SHIELD. It just so happened that I had government backing with SHIELD. And I _chose_ to stay here, and I didn't take care of you because you were a responsibility. You know that. Or . . . part of you does."

Arianna reached over and squeezed his hand briefly before letting go and returning her attention to the movie.

* * *

Loki was _not_ paying attention to the movie. It was about a boy with a yellow car that used radio stations to talk. The car could turn into a large robot.

The movie wasn't boring, but Loki had other things on his mind. Ever since the first attack on the tower and on Arianna Loki had been waiting for another attack. Granted, Arianna had been under strict supervision since then, but the fact that nothing else had happened didn't sit well with Loki. Maybe SHEILD's leaders hadn't expected them to fight for the girl, let alone kill for her, and were regrouping.

"Loki?"

He hadn't realized how tense he'd been, that he'd let himself become, until then. There was pain in his palms from clenching his hands into fists. He hadn't broken the skin, but his fingernails had been digging in sharply.

"You're _not_ enjoying the movie," she said, almost teasing. He could hear the concern, though.

"My head is full of other things."

"Yes?"

"SHIELD has known about your ability all along. You said Fury didn't, but his superiors must have. That's what they had on you; they knew you could do other things than heal. They didn't come after you, though, until Fury knew and until Stark started researching."

"Okay . . ."

"So . . . what changed?" Loki asked. "They were obviously keeping watch or they would not have known about the blood sample or exactly where to find it."

"Right. Tony's new security system should block things like that."

Loki nodded. "I'm sure it will – I _hope_ it will. But the point I'm trying to get across is that I do not think the timing of the attack was random. I think SHIELD does not want you progressing your power. They are likely afraid of what you can do. Not to mention you did side with a terrorist."

"Loki . . ."

"I helped terrorize Manhattan. I brought destruction to this city. You can still see the results of that if you step outside. Your power combined with mine, if I were to get it back . . . Who knows what could be done with that – that's probably what they're thinking."

"Loki . . . I'm not dangerous – I mean, I don't use my power that way."

"No," he agreed, "but you _could_ , and that is what frightens them."

* * *

Loki and Arianna went to bed around midnight, the hallway dark and without windows. They could've asked Jarvis to turn the lights on, but what was the point? They could've found their way in complete pitch darkness.

"Have you been sleeping better?" she asked.

Loki shrugged as if it didn't matter, which was answer enough.

"Are they happening every night? The nightmares, I mean."

"No. Mostly, but no."

"Well, that's good." Arianna gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Um . . . believe it or not, but dreams help you. Psychologically, the dreaming means your brain is trying to process everything. It means you're healing."

"Hm. Funny way of healing. I think I prefer your way."

"Right."

They had reached Loki's doorway and both stopped as he pushed the door open.

"Well, um, good night then," she said softly and turned around to go to her own room.

"Arianna, wait," Loki called after her. "Uh . . . please?"

That word seemed like an afterthought, but she obeyed nonetheless and turned back around to find him close enough to almost run into. Heat filled her cheeks at her almost blunder.

"Sorry."

"My mistake. I did not realize I was standing so close."

"It's okay. What did you need?"

"You and Stark . . . You care about him. I mean, it has been said that the angrier you can get at someone the more you care about him or her."

Not knowing what Loki was trying to get at, Arianna remained silent.

"I realize he is older than you, but –"

"No!" she said, finally getting it. "I know what you're thinking, and no. I've known Tony for about as long as I've known you, which isn't that long in the grand scheme of things, and he's more like a brother anyway."

"Oh."

A small smile graced Loki's mouth and Arianna could almost feel the relief roll off of him.

"Good. Then I don't have to pretend to feel guilty."

"Pretend to – what? Why would you have to pretend to feel guilty?"

She didn't _have_ to ask. She knew from the way he was moving his face towards her own and from the way he'd threaded his fingers of one hand through her hair what he was going to do.

"Loki." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Part of her wanted to shove him away. She wasn't capable of giving him what he wanted. She knew she wasn't. It wasn't like she hadn't tried with other men before; she just couldn't get her body to respond like it should.

The other part of her wanted to be able to respond to Loki's advances. She liked the way his fingers felt as they caressed her scalp, but she turned her head slightly when his lips nearly met hers. He brushed the skin of her cheek instead.

"Loki, I'm . . . I can't do that. You don't really want this with me."

Surprise at her words flickered in his green eyes.

"Why would I not?" And then . . . "Am I not doing this properly? On Asgard it is all arranged marriages with no real courtship rituals. How does this go on . . . Earth?"

"Um . . . marriage?"

That was _not_ what he was suggesting, right? She would have to put a stop to that at once.

"I never plan on being married. Uh, it kind of fills me with child-like terror at the thought of ever being married. In fact, relationships in general terrify me. They're not my area of expertise."

"We are friends. That is a type of relationship, is it not?"

Loki refused to step away from her, but he did let go of her hair. Arianna tried not to let it show when she decided she really wanted him to continue massaging her scalp.

"You are a very compassionate person. Why would you not do well in a relationship?"

Arianna didn't know what to say to that. Her idea of a good relationship – romantic or otherwise – included complete trust, support, and commitment on both sides. She'd never seen a relationship work that way aside from the ones in movies. Maybe her standards were too high or something.

Not to mention the only man she'd ever had feelings for had completely messed her up in the head. He had said he'd loved her, and had hurt her in a way no one should ever be hurt. If that was what people thought love was, she wanted no part in it.

"I don't know what you want from me, Loki, but whatever it is, I can't. Apparently, I don't know how. That's what the others have said."

Loki stiffened but his face remained open. "The others are not me."

She worried her bottom lip with her teeth, not liking the situation or the conversation at all. This was too personal for her. She didn't know if she wanted to let Loki any closer than she already had.

"Most Midgardians date first," she said. "Before they kiss."

"Date?"

Arianna let a smile push through. Loki wouldn't know how to do the relationship thing either.

"Yes, date. A night out or whatever, depending on what each person likes. Me, I prefer movies or dinner, or even just drinks and talking."

"Hm."

Loki took one step back, appearing to be thinking. Maybe dating would take too much effort and he would want to just be friends.

"Tomorrow, then, we can have dinner and we can talk," Loki said, grin on his face. "If you are amenable."

Amenable? No, she was _not_ amenable, but she didn't want to hurt Loki's feelings either.

"A'right, but just a date. And I want Chinese food. Get with Tony. He'll tell you how to order food over the phone."

That was another test, of course. Was Loki serious enough to go through Iron Man to get a date with her? Tony was very protective. Though, she maybe should've asked Loki to ask Clint or Steve, or maybe even Bruce.

Or Tash. Tash might've been the better person. But what was done was done, and she could only wait to see what could happen.

* * *

Loki waited until he was sure Arianna was down for the night before he left his own room to find Stark. He knew the genius would be in his lab doing something. Most nights Stark fell asleep there, if he slept at all.

On the elevator ride down, Loki thought about Arianna's weird yet fascinating reactions to his advances. At first she had appeared awkward, and then she had appeared nervous. Worst of all, she had seemed afraid and ashamed, maybe even insecure.

Others had made her feel as if she were unable to love others. Loki thought that was a load of rubbish because she wouldn't exert all of her energy in helping people if she didn't care, if she didn't love. In Asgard, it was the people who loved the most that went into the field of healing. And no, she didn't love everyone romantically, but she committed herself to her friends nonetheless, and even Loki knew commitment was important in any relationship.

When Loki arrived in the workshop/lab he found Tony working on his latest Iron Man suit. He didn't know what was being done to it, but the chest area had been pulled open.

"Stark," Loki said, gaining the man's attention. "How do you order food over the telephone?"

"You havin' late night cravings?"

"No." Boldly, he stepped toward Tony and said, "Arianna and I are having dinner tomorrow night, and she wants Chinese food. She said to ask you."

"Dinner? Together? As a date? What made you think _that_ was a good idea?"

Loki had to admit he was offended even if there was amusement in the other man's voice.

"I have made my intentions quite clear, and she has decided to give me a chance."

Tony stopped what he was doing and crossed his arms over his chest.

"And what exactly are your intentions?"

"Well, I believe she called it dating. Is that not the proper term?"

"I wouldn't know, I don't date," Tony quipped. "And I meant on the more physical side of things."

Loki looked away, not believing the audacity of the man in front of him.

"I do not believe that is any of your business," Loki eventually said, looking back up and into Tony's eyes.

"I'm making it my business. It's a thing I do when something happens that I don't like. And I don't like you trying to cozy up to our littlest Avenger."

Loki irrationally wanted to tell Tony that _littlest_ was not a real word. Correcting the genius would not help his cause at all, however, so he kept his mouth shut on the subject.

"I would not be here if Arianna had not made it clear I should ask you about this. I remember your . . . promise to hand me over to SHIELD if I dare hurt her. I can assure you it is not and never has been my way to force myself on a woman."

Loki paused when he noticed Tony's body tense to the point he looked as if he would break with one hit.

"That _is_ what you were implying earlier, was it not?"

Tony had the decency to appear sheepish even though his tone was harsh when he next spoke.

"What do you want with her then?"

"Has it not occurred to you that I might just fancy her? She has been nothing but kind to me even when I didn't deserve it. Why would I _not_ fancy her? Why would I not want to date her?"

Tony surprised Loki by grinning and then by laughing.

"What?" Loki demanded. "What did I miss?"

"You actually care about her as a person," he said. "I knew you appreciated her as the one who made sure you were kept safe, but . . . you _like_ her."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Yes, that is what I just said. Are you going to help me or not?"

Tony shrugged, turning back to his work.

"Come find me in the morning. You'll need a little touch up before your date."

* * *

The next morning came and went without Tony helping Loki at all. He had bigger problems to deal with. The problems being SHIELD agents following everyone around. Natasha had come to him around six that morning to let him know that she'd seen at least three undercover people watching every visible exit of the tower. She'd noticed two men and one woman.

"They were good, Tony," she said. "I might not have noticed them if I hadn't had as much training as I have."

"Do they know you know about them?"

"I don't think so. I went on with what I was doing. I mentioned them to Clint. He's noticed them too. They're clearly staking out the place."

Tony added installing extra security cameras outside to his 'things-I-need-to-do' list. Maybe add in some facial recognition programming as well.

"I've only noticed them since your meeting with Director Fury. Maybe they are from him. I don't want to ask him, though, because if they aren't –"

"It would let other people at SHIELD know we know."

"Yes. Anyway, these people that I saw, they followed me today. Again, I wouldn't have noticed had I not been trained. They would've appeared completely normal to anyone else. I don't know if Aries would've made the connection; she's never been that into the training part of being an agent."

"You're sure these people are from SHIELD?"

"If not, they were trained the same way. They use the same methods."

"Hm. Well, if it's only three people I'm not worried. If they try to get in, my security system will let me know."

"And Jarvis?"

Tony smirked. "He's part of my security system."

"Obviously." Natasha shook her head. "I think I should leave. Just to see if they follow. If they come back even if I'm gone, then you'll know this has nothing to do with me."

Tony understood the logic behind her thinking, but Tony also had a feeling that they knew exactly who was being watched.

"You might want to rethink leaving right away. Your friend has a date tonight."

"What? She doesn't date."

"Apparently she does now. Reindeer Games convinced her to give him a chance."

"What?" she almost yelled. Tony was going to consider it a yell.

"He asked for help getting ready. I should actually go find him."

* * *

Arianna was in the gym, sort of working out but mostly watching Steve hit a punching bag.

She'd done several sets of crunches and pushups already. Normally she despised exorcise of any sort when Natasha wasn't with her to encourage her, but she had an excess of nervous energy at the moment, and it had to go somewhere.

Steve was silent as he continued beating up the very non-threatening punching bag. To be honest, he was not much of a talker anyway. Unless he had something important to contribute he didn't speak. He wasn't anti-social in the least, but he was once an awkward young man and while he was still young in appearance he had yet to catch up with the times. He couldn't help it, and Arianna didn't mind the quiet, so it was okay. But she needed to talk to someone and he was there. Plus, he was probably the type that wouldn't make fun of her for what she wanted to say.

"Steve? What do you think of Loki?"

Steve grabbed the punching bag, bringing it to a standstill, and glanced at her. She was seated at the edge of the mat he was standing on.

"Why?" he asked, seating himself beside her.

She shrugged and refused to meet his eyes.

"Just asking."

"Oh. Well, I don't know, Arianna. He's not trying to take over the world anymore, which is good. But he's also human and powerless. We don't know what he'd do if he got his magic back."

That was not the answer she wanted and she didn't want to admit that it was true. Loki didn't have access to the power he'd once had and they didn't know what he would do if he ever got his abilities back.

"I think he cares about _you_ , though. He cares whether you live or die." Steve gave her a small smile. "I don't know how he feels about the rest of us, but he's proven he'll protect you."

She looked up then. Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed that Steve was looking at her with such pure compassion, as if he already knew her problem: Her upcoming dinner with Loki. He'd actually gone to Tony for help. Loki had set aside his own pride just so he could find out about dating and what she would expect from him. He knew nothing of human dating traditions.

Maybe Tony wasn't the best option to give advice on that after all.

"Loki asked me to have dinner with him tonight. Just him and me. I . . . accepted."

Steve tensed just a little as he processed that information and then he nodded.

"And?"

"And I'm nervous!" she said. "Obviously. I mean, I haven't dated in – well – years, really. Not, you know, properly dating. Not getting-dressed-up-and-having-dinner dating."

"Hm. Are you afraid? Of him?"

"Not exactly. I mean, not him exactly."

"But . . . you are afraid of something?"

 _This_ was what she needed to talk about.

"You know those files Tony had Fury delete?"

"Yeah."

"There was this guy that I hurt when I was younger. He was . . . I thought he was a good man until he tried to . . ."

She shrugged, not able to actually say the words.

"I had known him for a few years. He was a teacher at my school and a friend of my parents, so I saw him a lot. He'd always bring me gifts or give me money to buy the things I wanted. He always told me it was because I was his favorite student. I was . . . unbelievably stupid."

Steve placed his hand on her shoulder. "You were young, a kid by the sounds of it. He took advantage. It wasn't your fault."

"It was, though. I thought I loved him. He said he loved me. I thought it must've been true because he treated me better than others. Now I know it wasn't better, just _different_. He groomed me. That's the official term. Guided me into doing things he liked, acting a certain way, dressing in clothes _he_ liked me in."

She had to admire the restraint Steve had. Very little disgust showed on his face and what little _did_ was not directed at _her._

"I enjoyed the attention until he became physical. I still thought I loved him then and he never pushed until the last night he was alive. I never thought he . . . He had never hurt me before, so I don't know why he did what he did."

The last line had her choking back tears. After all this time she still had a hard time saying the word. She had a problem saying _his_ name. _David_. She didn't even like thinking it, but there it was.

"I was put in the hospital for a few days – observation reasons mostly. I was hurt, but I was also in shock. The night I was hurt was the night I got my powers. It was like they were triggered or something. I had nothing to focus on and I didn't know what was happening anyway, so I hurt him. I didn't mean to. By the time I was done with him, his insides were so damaged the police said it appeared as if he'd jumped off a very tall building. Most of his bones were shattered.

"I did that. That's what I can do, what SHIELD might want me for.

"The murder and the medical records . . . those were the files Tony unlocked, that Fury deleted. SHIELD threatened to have me locked up because I was a _danger_ they didn't understand. I chose to work for them instead."

That was it. That was her story. She'd edited a few parts, of course, but Steve now knew what had happened to her. He didn't need to know the details, didn't need to know that David had been needlessly rough with her, or that he'd hurt her even more because she'd been scared and tense, or that she hadn't been prepared for him at all because she'd never had sex before him and hadn't welcomed the intrusion at all.

"Have you told anyone else?" Steve asked, his voice gentle and cautious.

She shook her head. "Tash knows, and Tony, obviously. I think Loki knows something is wrong, just not what it is. He knows I was hurt and that I got my ability because of it. But he doesn't know I was . . . that I was raped."

At the sound of that word she slumped forward, bringing her knees up and placing her arms around them. She quickly hid her face as tears began to fall.

"Please don't tell him. I don't want him to know."

Even though her voice was muffled she knew Steve must've heard and understood because he suddenly had his arm around her and was letting her lean against him. She didn't panic because Steve was just a friend and wasn't looking to date her or kiss her or eventually have sex with her.

He was safe – and he was Captain America; he had a pureness about him that settled her nerves.

"I don't know why you came to me with this, but thanks for trusting me with your secret. It will never spill from my mouth."

She sniffled a little and said, "Thanks."

Now she just needed to put her big girl panties on and get ready for her date. She would do this for Loki, and if she didn't have a good time or if things went south then at least she could say she had tried.

* * *

Loki couldn't believe – or wouldn't let himself believe – what he saw in the mirror. He actually recognized himself.

Tony had made good on his promise of helping, and Loki had gone through a series of changes over the past hour, the most obvious of which was the hair cut he'd allowed himself to indulge in.

His reflection showed that he looked much like he had before allowing himself to let go of Thor's hammer only to fall into the tormenting place he'd landed in.

His hair was clean, shiny but not oily, and he knew the dark locks would be silky smooth; his skin was pale but not sickly-looking, not like it had been when he'd first arrived on Midgard; his eyes were different – he didn't know why, but they appeared more peaceful than they normally did.

His clothes weren't new exactly. They were from the batch of clothes he'd been presented with once Tony had decided he could stay there at the tower. He had chosen a dark blue sweater and a pair of black jeans that fit his form quite well. He'd seen Arianna glance his way once or twice when he'd worn the sweater before, and she'd seemed to like it.

He would never admit out loud that he'd chosen it for her. It was a casual outfit, but if they weren't going out then it wasn't supposed to be formal or anything, right?

They were having dinner and hopefully stimulating conversation. Tony had recommended planning for a movie just in case conversation didn't come easy.

Loki was to meet Arianna at her bedroom door at six-thirty. It was only six now. He didn't know what else to do other than wait, so that was what he did.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Loki knocked on Arianna's bedroom door at exactly six-thirty. Within seconds she opened the door. Loki stood there staring for a few seconds. Arianna was wearing a black dress with bell-shaped sleeves and a flowy skirt that ended just above her knees.

She had straightened her hair and it was hanging loosely over her shoulders. Her cheeks were pink and her lips were glossy, but her face was otherwise void of makeup.

He'd noticed that her breath had caught when she'd noticed his makeover. He was just glad that he wasn't the only one who had put in an effort to look nice.

"You, um . . . actually look like a prince tonight," she said, having found her voice.

"Is that . . . good?"

"Yes," she admitted and smiled.

Something loosened in Loki's chest then and he could breathe easy all of a sudden.

"Well, you look lovely."

He offered her his hand and she took it. She at least didn't seem nervous about that.

"So . . . what are we doing?"

"Chinese food, talking, perhaps a movie." Loki glanced her way even as they began walking down the hallway. "Tony set up the floor below this one. I hope that's okay."

"It's . . . fine. I just didn't know we would be alone."

"Are we ever really alone while Jarvis is online?"

"True." She squeezed his hand. "Sorry I'm being so silly."

"You are not being silly. You're just nervous."

She nodded. "I am."

"Maybe it would soothe you to know that I, too, suffer from nerves at the present time."

"Really? But you're a prince."

"I was a Prince," he said. "I'm only human here."

"Being human is okay," Arianna said, "if you give it a chance."

"That's what I'm trying to do," he said, his tone most definitely flirty.

Arianna grinned, and Loki noticed her blush before she turned her head away. Maybe he had a chance after all.

* * *

When they got to the room Tony had picked out for them, Arianna was surprised to see that a table had been set up. A deep red table cloth covered it, and a flaming candle was seated on top. Two plates – fresh and steaming – of chicken and broccoli with rice and brown sauce awaited them.

"Did you do this?" she asked.

"The candle was my idea. I don't know if I like Chinese food, but Tony said this dish is your favorite, so . . . that is what I ordered."

"Thank you. This is . . . nice."

Ten minutes into their dinner Arianna finally settled down. She even felt safe in knowing that Loki meant her no harm.

They were eating together as they had done many times before. They were talking about normal things. Most importantly, there was no pressure coming from Loki at all.

They were just spending time together, and that was okay.

"I'm surprised you actually went to Tony," she admitted.

"In order to get what I wanted I had to. For me to get what I wanted you had to have what you wanted."

After a brief pause, during which Arianna took a bite of rice, Loki shrugged.

"Tony and I have an understanding." Then with a small, self-deprecating smile, he continued. "Besides, I really don't understand this . . . dating."

Arianna smiled and nodded. "That makes two of us."

* * *

After dinner, Loki and Arianna moved to the living room to find something to watch. Loki, not knowing what was good and what wasn't, told Arianna to pick something.

She chose a series called Sherlock and they watched the first episode. Loki decided he liked the show and would continue watching it in his own time. He found Sherlock Holmes amusing. Loki sympathized with him; he normally felt as if he were surrounded by morons as well.

"So, this is a date, by Midgardian standards?" Loki asked once the episode was over.

"It's considered one, yes." Arianna smiled. "Um . . . it depends on what one likes to do."

"Is there something you would like to do? That we can do together."

"We always do stuff together," she teased.

"You know what I meant. Together, as a date." A thought occurred to him then. "Unless you've not enjoyed yourself."

Her eyes widened then, and Loki knew that Arianna _had_ been enjoying herself. She just hadn't thought much about it.

"I . . . usually enjoy the time I spend with you. I just haven't dated in so long that I didn't know what to expect from this – or what you expected of me."

"For you to be you," Loki confessed quickly. "You being you is what made me fancy you. Why would I want anything different just because we're on a date?"

Arianna's face went blank for just a few seconds, and Loki didn't know what had happened during that time, but it made her smile brightly.

"I think I've been thinking about this way too much. Worrying too much about you being different because it's a date. Most guys I've gone out with only wanted – uh, well, you know."

"What's under your clothes?"

"Yeah, that."

"Well, maybe you just need better taste in men."

She shrugged. "I did agree to go on a date with an ex-villain, criminal mastermind."

Loki grinned at her playful banter. He wasn't even hurt by her words because, no matter how true they were, he knew she hadn't meant anything by them.

"Ex-villain, but not ex-criminal mastermind?"

"You still have the same brain. I just think you'll find better uses for it."

Loki hoped he wouldn't let her down.

* * *

Arianna soon found herself outside her bedroom door with Loki, much like the night before. He had walked her there, but, unlike the night before, he hadn't tried to kiss her.

"You never did say what you would like to do," Loki said. "For our next date."

"Yes, I did." Arianna shrugged. "Just spend time with you. Besides, it's your turn to pick."

He must've been thinking about it already because he was quick to respond.

"I'd like to go outside. I have not been out since the last time with you."

With a start, Arianna realized he was right. He hadn't been outside since then. She hadn't really either except to go to hospitals. She hadn't been outside for fun in what felt like forever.

"You will have to pick the place, however, as I am unfamiliar with Midgard geography."

She grinned. She knew just the place to go.

"I'll get with Tony tomorrow to ask about transportation. We can go for coffee tomorrow and then take a walk. Night time is probably best. Less of a chance for you to be noticed and recognized."

"Great. Um . . . good night then, Arianna."

Arianna said good night too, confused when Loki just turned around and started walking towards his room. She also found herself disappointed. Wasn't he going to kiss her? Hadn't the whole point of the date been about him wanting to kiss her? And now he was just going to walk away?

"Loki," she called out without really meaning to. "Wait."

He did, turning back around. "Yes?"

"I . . ."

She moved forward, stopping when she was close enough to touch. Where had her fear gone? What had happened to the girl that had been so nervous about Loki trying to become intimate with her? Where had she gone and why wasn't she stopping her from doing this? She was only going to make a fool of herself doing this. She was no good at it. She could never get her mouth to move with someone else's; she was a horrible kisser. She knew that she would freeze if she actually let her lips touch his.

Only she didn't freeze. In fact, she . . . she came to life under Loki's attention. She had initiated contact, her hands pulling him down to her only to card her fingers through his silky black hair.

She hadn't planned on kissing him like that or for as long as it looked like they were going to, but she soon found herself requesting entrance to his mouth. He let her, and she scratched his scalp with her nails.

Loki was being so . . . pliant, which wasn't like him, but she was glad he was letting her lead. Even when he placed his hands on her sides he wasn't demanding anything. His fingers squeezed gently, but he seemed content with just this.

She pushed him against the wall, knowing the angle must have been hurting his neck, but she didn't want to pull away. She hadn't wanted to be trapped against the wall either.

Arianna was not used to this, the heat and the ache at her core. She was not used to wanting . . . well, anyone. She'd never wanted anyone to ease the ache before. She knew what it was, of course, but she'd never felt it this intensely.

Of course, she'd never been the one in control before either, and for it to be Loki that she was leading made it even better. He was always in control of himself and yet he'd let her come to him, had let her initiate whatever this was.

She felt as Loki moved his hands to her behind only to begin kneading the flesh there. Instead of freaking her out, it made her lean more into him.

"Loki." She gasped and pulled her mouth away. "Please, I –"

She what? Wanted to stop? No. Wanted to keep up with the making out? Yes. Right then and there in the hallway? No. Did her body agree with her mind? Definitely not, but was she going to listen to her body? No . . . even if she wanted to. Badly.

She did pull away then. Slowly but deliberately. She wasn't rejecting Loki; she just couldn't do this here.

And what had she been doing anyway? What was wrong with her? She didn't do things like that. Ever. She didn't throw herself at guys.

"Um . . . I think . . . I think I'm gonna go now," she squeaked.

She refused to meet Loki's gaze until he lifted her chin. He pressed his lips to hers briefly but pulled back. He wasn't mad at her for stopping in the middle of things. Though his green eyes did appear glazed over.

Had she done that? There was a flush in his cheeks – a healthy one, not a fever flush – that went down his neck. It disappeared underneath his shirt, but Arianna knew his upper chest was probably pink too.

She _had_ done that. With a sudden bout of giddiness she quickly planted another kiss on Loki's lips. She nipped at him once before pulling away once again.

"You _want_ me," she said, happy yet terrified. Not in the normal way she felt terrified by intimacy – not in the way where she thought she would be physically hurt – but terrified in the way that told her if she gave in and let Loki want her, care about her, it could emotionally damage her because she wanted him too, and she already cared about him.

"It was not my intention for this to happen," Loki admitted. "Though I am not at all sorry it did."

She breathed in, held it for a few seconds, and then let it out.

"I'm not either, though I didn't expect to like it so much."

Loki grinned and looked smug. Arianna shook her head.

"Don't let it go to your head, Loki. Good night."

* * *

Still warm and slightly out of breath, Arianna entered her room. She felt like a teenager – or what she thought a teenager should feel like after making out with someone they were obviously attracted to.

"Did you enjoy your date?"

At the sound of Natasha's voice Arianna quickly asked Jarvis to activate the lights in her room. Her friend was seated on the bed, right at the edge. She appeared to have been waiting there for a while.

"Hey, Tash. Been there long?"

"Maybe ten minutes. You didn't answer my question."

"Well, I – yes, I did. We ate and watched a show. Talked a bit, nothing too heavy."

Natasha nodded but also looked at her knowingly.

"I don't think you did much talking at all judging by the flush on your cheeks and your loss of breath."

"Tash!" This really wasn't Natasha's business. "We kissed. That's it."

"No. You went on a date without telling me." Tash stood then. "You always tell me in case you need a way out."

"We never left the building, Tash."

Arianna could see then that Tash was kind of hurt that she hadn't been included in the list of people that had known about the date beforehand.

"If it makes you feel any better, you can be my potential way out tomorrow. Loki and I are going to get coffee and then go for a walk."

"No, you're not."

Natasha was in full agent mode now, so Arianna waited for an explanation.

"The building is being watched. Clint and I noticed recently. Tony has been made aware. It's not safe for you to leave."

"I've been stuck inside for weeks. You and Clint can be our security detail, but I need to get out."

Natasha frowned. "You mean Loki needs to get out."

"That too."

Arianna knew it wasn't the only reason there was, but now that Loki looked different and no one had a chance of recognizing him, Ariana felt she needed to introduce him to the outside world. Something told her that he hadn't taken much in the last time he'd spent more than an hour outside.

"I just ask you to keep this in mind. He's forced people to do things they didn't want to. You don't –"

"That's enough!" Arianna hissed. "I know what he did, and I know it wasn't fun for Clint, okay. What Loki did was wrong, I know that. But what Loki forced people to do is not the same thing as what _David_ forced me to do. I don't appreciate the comparison."

Natasha's face remained blank aside from blinking once.

"I wasn't trying to compare. I was reminding you of what he's capable of."

"I've been in his head, Tash. I know what's in there." She sighed, suddenly exhausted. "Please leave . . . I – just go."

She didn't want to dismiss Natasha like that. She knew Tash would be hurt even if she didn't let it show, but Arianna needed to be alone. Tash had gotten her to think about what Loki had done. He could be manipulative, she knew that. He could be cruel, though he hadn't been towards her since she'd gotten to know him better. He could also be funny and kind in his own way.

"I need to think," she told her friend. "I'll remember what you said. But you need to remember this, Tash. Loki wants what he wants and he's proven he'll do what he has to in order to get it. He wants _me_. He knows he can't be that way with me. He didn't even try anything tonight, Tash. He was on his best behavior."

She blushed. "I kissed him."

"Hm." Tash opened the door. "Let me know before you leave tomorrow night."

Before she left she turned and said, "Just be careful. Okay? That's all I meant."

That, of course, made Arianna feel terrible for arguing with Natasha. She'd only wanted to make sure Arianna didn't get hurt.

* * *

Loki lay in bed that night, thinking about how well the night had gone. Arianna had been nervous at first, but she had settled quickly as she had begun to eat. He'd found the reason for her unease had been because of past experiences with men, but after she had realized he didn't want her to act any differently than normal she'd relaxed completely – enough to gain the confidence to kiss him. He didn't know where she'd gotten the idea that she couldn't do it properly – or where the men she'd previously kissed had gotten that idea.

She hadn't seemed too terribly experienced, but she'd more than made up for it with passion – until she'd realized they'd been in the hallway. Then she'd been embarrassed, but she'd quickly regained control of herself.

Loki hadn't wanted to let her go, but he'd finally gotten a response from her and hadn't wanted her to go back in her shell.

He was just glad that he'd gotten her to agree to another date, this one outside. Loki didn't know if he liked coffee or not, but he would definitely enjoy the company.

* * *

The next day it rained and everything was soaked. That didn't stop Arianna from wanting to go get coffee, so she found herself in Tony's lab at around four in the afternoon asking for transportation for later that night.

It was also how she found a buzzed-on-something Tony Stark. It wasn't alcohol – it was probably some energy drink he had concocted himself.

"Uh . . . you okay?" she asked as she came in.

Tony had recently changed all the security codes and the door to the lab now opened only if your handprint was in the system.

"Always. What d'you need?"

"Um . . . a car or a driver. For tonight."

"Why?"

"Coffee and Central Park. A walk . . . with Loki."

Why did she feel as though she were talking to her dad? Tony Stark was not her dad – he wasn't even a cool uncle. Though she did enjoy the fact that he cared about her enough to ask questions.

"Why are you hyper?"

She could tell he hadn't been sleeping well. There were dark circles around his eyes and his skin had lost some of its normal color.

"Caffeine. Lots of it."

"Maybe you should try sleep – lots of it."

"Can't. Working."

"O . . . kay. Probably not healthy to live off of caffeine, but hey, it's your life."

"And I'm a genius," he pointed out.

"Right. You'll crash eventually and you'll sleep the sleep of the unconscious."

"Til then, work."

She assumed he was working on his suits because one of them was on display, chest plate opened up.

"So, the car?"

"Happy will take you. Pepper can spare him for the night."

"Okay. Thanks. Um, all joking aside, you really should try to get some sleep. Don't wanna lose our genius."

"Right."

* * *

Not even two hours later Loki and Arianna were on their way to a nearby coffee shop. It was not dark – apparently Tony did not want them out after dark, which she got since people had been monitoring the tower.

The rain from earlier had become even heavier and there was even thunder in the distance. Loki did not seem thrilled. Thor connotations, she assumed

"Hey, so we may not get that walk, but we can fill up on sugar at the café."

"I like sugar."

"I know." She smiled.

Loki looked out the window and sighed.

"Everything is rebuilt or . . . what couldn't be rebuilt has been removed. Almost as if nothing ever happened."

"Right. Uh, people move on when they can, ignore it when they can't. There are a few who hang on to things."

They arrived at the café, a small white and brown building in a row of many others. It was a small place with about ten tables on the floor, only two of them occupied. To the right, against the wall, was the counter where the customers ordered. Beneath the counter, in a display case, Arianna saw all the baked goods.

"Blueberry muffins! Fresh blueberry muffins."

She grabbed Loki's arm and tugged him to the counter, where a small blond woman greeted them with a smile.

"How can I help you?"

"Two blueberry muffins, and two French Vanilla cappuccinos, please."

The café door opened as Happy came in and took a seat in the back corner. Arianna rolled her eyes without any real frustration.

"Black coffee for the guy who just came in, and a couple of chocolate chip cookies. I got it."

After Arianna paid the woman she told Loki to find a seat. The barista would bring their order to their table, and after about two minutes of waiting she did.

Happy nodded her way when he received his own coffee and cookies. She sent him a small smile before focusing on Loki, who was looking down suspiciously at his drink.

"It's sweet too," she said. "You'll like it. And I know you like muffins, and these are fresh so they're even better."

Loki lifted the cup and took a small sip. His nose wrinkled in distaste at first – probably the first bitter taste before the vanilla hit his tongue – but his expression cleared within seconds and he hm'd his approval.

"See. It's good. Although I'm suddenly wondering if you should have caffeine. It can make you hyper."

Loki's eyes scanned the room and Arianna suddenly wondered if he felt okay, felt safe, being out in the real world.

"Loki, we can leave if . . . if you want to." She leaned forward, closer to him. "If you feel overwhelmed."

"I don't – I . . . It is habit to look for threats wherever I go."

"Oh. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why are you afraid of storms? I mean, I get that Thor is the god of thunder and all that, but is there more to it? I mean, he didn't cause you to get struck by lightning or anything, right?"

Loki blinked, shocked, before letting out a honest-to-goodness belly laugh. Arianna would have been offended by him laughing at her question, but she was distracted by the beauty of a happy Loki. No manic smile, no craziness in his eyes.

"What?" he exclaimed. "No. He probably could have, and I probably deserved it many times over, but he would have considered that not fair. No. My fear comes from the fact that any time it thunders he may appear."

"Oh."

"Yes, oh." Loki was still grinning. "You have such a high opinion of my brother."

Arianna didn't mention the slip up. Until then, Loki had refused to call Thor his brother.

"Well, I didn't know," she exclaimed, laughing herself.

The door in the front slammed open, and both Arianna and Loki jerked their heads in that direction; Happy was probably at full attention at the moment, but Arianna hadn't been paying attention to him.

She was, however, paying attention to the men that had just walked in. There were two of them and they both had guns.

Great.

"Everybody out!" they said. "Nice and easy."

They let everybody out – everybody that wasn't Arianna or Loki. Happy refused to go anywhere, so the leader guy shot him in the leg. He went down and Arianna was shocked to find that there was no blood.

A tranquilizer? They were using tranquilizer darts? Happy wasn't moving and was closing his eyes.

The two men, both wearing all black with ski masks aimed at her and Loki then.

"You'll come with us." They were talking only to Arianna now. "If you don't, I will kill both of them and we will get you anyway."

Why had they left Stark Tower? Even after she'd discovered they were being watched she'd wanted to go out. She'd been so stupid."

"You promise not to hurt them?" she asked. "If I come with you, do you promise not to hurt them?"

"Arianna, no."

"Does it look like I have a choice?" she snapped. "I can't let them hurt you or Happy."

Arianna took a deep breath, moved forward, and then even as she was moving she let a burst of power through. A table lifted from the ground and flew towards the two men.

Surprised, they ducked, and Arianna grabbed Loki's hand. They ran toward Happy. What were they to do with him? They couldn't just leave him.

Something struck her back and then she was screaming, and Loki was grabbing her. Pain tore its way through every nerve in her body, or so it seemed. It was red hot and almost unbearable.

Had she been shot?

"Arianna!"

Loki didn't know what to do. She knew that. And he couldn't fight guns. He wasn't bulletproof, not anymore.

* * *

Loki saw the dart sticking out of Arianna's back and quickly pulled it out. She was still screaming and had begun to convulse. Had the dart been full of poison? Was she going to die?

No. These men wanted her for something. That gave Arianna an advantage. She needed to stay alive – they needed her alive. He, however, had no such luck. They would kill him – or sedate him . . . or torture him.

Who cared? Who cared about a little pain? They couldn't have Arianna. He would fight for her. His chest twisted uncomfortably at the thought of her dying or being taken from him.

He lunged, knowing he couldn't take both the men at once. They both reacted, and Loki felt a sting in his neck. He was aware enough to know he hadn't been dosed with the same thing as Arianna had been. He wasn't in pain.

He was just going to pass out.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Arianna woke up in the backseat of a car. She was no longer in pain, but her body was sore. She felt as if she'd run a marathon and now her body didn't want to cooperate. She was between her captors. Their masks were off. She would see their faces; they weren't planning on her coming out of this alive. And . . . they weren't professionals. They didn't have guns trained on her, plus she could feel her phone in her back pocket.

Professionals would have removed it or destroyed it. GPS, hello. But this was good. Someone would report her missing, and Tony would find her. She hoped Happy and Loki were okay. She couldn't remember much after the pain had started.

"We should search her," the leader guy said. He had blond hair, ice blue eyes. She would henceforth call him Blondie.

"Now?" the other guy asked. "In the car?" This guy also had blond hair, but his eyes were brown. Maybe he could be Brown Eyes.

"Yes, in the car. She's an Avenger, and she lives with Tony Stark. She could have some kind of toy on her that'll lead to us."

Arianna stiffened as Blondie turned to her. His eyes dared her to try something. She jerked away as he began feeling over her chest and stomach and then her sides. Blondie got joy out of her fear – and she was afraid.

"I don't think she likes that," Brown Eyes said. "Leave her alone. She's clean."

"She better be, or it's on you."

Blondie jerked her head back, and Arianna glared at him even as she flinched.

"You be good. Or I'll shoot you again."

* * *

Tony's head had just hit the desk he was falling asleep over when he saw Happy, Loki, and Natasha heading toward the door to the lab. He opened it for them so they wouldn't have to use their prints to open it. None of them looked like they were having a good day, and Natasha looked downright worn out. She was also limping.

Why had he stayed up so long? He felt as if his eyelids were made of sand paper and whatever had happened, he wasn't sure he was mentally capable of dealing with it.

Happy was there _with_ Loki, who had been on a date with Arianna, and Natasha had been security detail. He wasn't even sure Arianna and Loki had realized they'd had security detail.

Three of the four people that had gone to the café were in his lab looking unwell, so . . .

"Where's our littlest Avenger?" He slipped a metal band on either wrist. "Please tell me you didn't lose her."

Nobody said anything and Tony felt his chest tighten because this was bad. No one was answering, so this had to be bad.

"She was taken," Natasha said. "Whoever it was shot Loki and Happy with tranqs and took her. They shot her too, and me, but it was with something else."

Loki stepped forward then. He held a dart carefully in his right hand.

"I don't know what it is," Loki said. "But it made her whole body flare up with pain."

Some chemical that messed with pain receptors in the brain, Tony assumed.

"By the way, thanks for not answering your phone," Happy said.

Tony rolled his eyes and gestured for the dart. Loki tried to hand it to him, but since Tony didn't like being handed things, he told Loki to put it on the table.

"You were dosed with this too?" he asked Natasha. "Side effects?"

"Other than the pain? Exhausted. My muscles are sore and twitchy."

"Hm. Trackers. I am making trackers for you guys so I'll always know where you are."

He began running tests on the dart – or more specifically the chemicals the dart would have held.

"Do you have her phone?"

"No, it –" Natasha's eyes widened. "It wasn't there. It wasn't removed at the scene, and even if it was removed later, we'll at least have a direction to start in."

"Definitely making trackers."

* * *

Arianna had arrived at a warehouse moments ago, and she was now tied to a chair. They hadn't hurt her anymore, but she wasn't letting her guard down. Not now that she knew what their darts could do.

Whatever had been in the darts had attacked her nervous system. She'd never felt that much pain before. What kind of monster would invent something like that?

"You have a lot of people scared," Blondie said. "You have so much power, and you're supposed to be on the good side, yet you side with a terrorist."

Loki.

"There are extenuating circumstances there. He's not . . . He was pushed into that."

"Is that what he said? And you being a naive little girl believed him."

She wasn't going to go into how she'd seen why he'd been pushed into it. Besides . . . Loki wasn't the problem here. If they'd wanted him, they would've taken him too. And yet . . .

Blondie's fist connected with her cheek, and her head snapped to the side from the force of it. If she hadn't been tied to the chair, she would've grabbed her face. It would bruise and there was a trickle of blood flowing down. The man must have been wearing a ring.

Blondie hit her twice more, seeming to get angrier every time he looked at her. Maybe he really believed she'd betrayed humanity by befriending Loki. She had pretty much been on Loki's side since she'd seen the torture he'd been through; she'd even felt some of it.

Blondie pointed the gun at her again, the one with the dart that caused pain, and Arianna lost control. She didn't want to feel that again. She couldn't, not if it was going to affect her whole body.

The air in the place thickened and Blondie grabbed his throat. She realized then that he couldn't breathe. She was suffocating him. She didn't know how, but she was.

Something in Blondie snapped – a bone, that was what it sounded like – and he doubled over, dropping the dart gun. His ribs . . . She was crushing him. Crushing him like she'd done David.

She was smacked across the face again, and everything stopped. Brown Eyes was staring at her now, fear in his eyes. She was scaring him.

"I'm sorry," she cried. "I can't always control it. I'm sorry. I don't mean to hurt anyone."

"I believe you," Brown Eyes said. "And I'm sorry too. But you can't be allowed to concentrate."

He grabbed the dart gun that Blondie had dropped. The dart he fired hit her in the chest, making pain flare from there.

She wanted to curl up in the fetal position and die. As it was, she could feel her heart acting erratically, and if the pain kept up it might actually give out on her.

She might even welcome death if it meant never feeling this pain again.

* * *

Tony crashed through the door of the warehouse he'd tracked Arianna to. He was surprised to find only two men, one of whom was pretty beat up.

Arianna was tied to a metal chair in the center of the room. She'd been interrogated – she'd been tortured, and she was still screaming. He quickly realized the reason was because of the dart thing in her chest.

Panic seized Tony's own chest and his heart felt as if it were being squeezed. Not a good feeling.

"Aries," he shouted, and landed by her. She wasn't coherent enough to even realize he was there.

The two men had begun to run, but Tony took care of them with an energy blast to each of their backs. Neither was dead, but they would be locked up a long time once Tony made a call to Fury.

"Mm . . ." Arianna stopped screaming and was now only whimpering. "Tony?"

"Yeah." He was relieved she was aware enough to notice him now, but he needed to be out of his suit right now.

"Next time you want coffee, you can just go to the kitchen. Or I can order it from anywhere you want it. Being Tony Stark has its perks, you know."

Tony untied her from the chair and quickly, if not a little awkwardly, pulled the dart from her chest.

"Oh, I – I knew you'd come," she said breathlessly, voice hoarse.

That was when Tony realized that Arianna had faith in him, and he really didn't know what to do with that. Panic was high up on his list.

"Ready to get out of here?" he asked. All she did was grunt. "How do you feel about flying?"

"Mm . . . do you mind if I pass out?"

"Go ahead as long as you promise to wake back up. Though, you might have a concussion. Bruises on your face and all. What about your head?"

"They didn't hit my head. I'm just woozy 'cause –" Her voice caught and she closed her eyes. This was the moment she was going to start crying, Tony just knew it.

Tears were indeed beginning to fall, and her body began to quiver, and this was so not Tony's area. What was he supposed to do? Why hadn't he brought someone with him? Clint or Steve, Natasha even? She couldn't have fought, but she'd be able to help with this.

Not knowing what else to do, Tony suited up and drew her into his arms before taking off out of the building. This was as close to a hug as he could give her at the moment.

He hoped it was enough.

* * *

Loki was waiting outside on the balcony when Tony landed with Arianna in his arms. She appeared to be asleep. He hoped she was just asleep.

Steve was there, as were Bruce and Clint. Natasha had tried staying awake, but the trauma had finally caught up with her and she'd gone to bed.

Tony placed Arianna on the couch in the living room before stepping out of his suit.

"She's wiped out," he said.

Loki noticed the bruises on her face, the slice on her right cheek. Her wrists were damaged from having been bound, from struggling against whatever had been binding her.

"Her wounds need to be cleaned," Loki said. "Warm water should do for now."

"She's gonna be down from the night," Tony said. "They . . . dosed her again."

Loki had no clue what to say or do. He knew what he would have done before, when he'd had his powers. He would've found those men, and he would have killed them for hurting her.

Now he didn't have powers. The only thing he could do was clean her wounds and sit with her until she woke up, because she didn't need to do that alone.

"Thank you for finding her, for bringing her back."

Tony shrugged. "She's . . . she's a friend, and the Littlest Avenger. Can't lose the baby in the family."

Tony cared for her, Loki realized, and she was more than a friend. Tony had called her part of his family. Joking aside, the Avengers were a type of family, and Loki was a part of it. They had accepted his pursuing of Arianna, so he had a family in them.

* * *

While Arianna slept Tony received a call from Fury. Tony had already gotten in touch with him on the flight back to the tower. Fury had already known that Aries had been taken. Tony had arrived before the SHIELD agents had gotten there.

"How did you know?" Tony asked. "You claim you're not after her, so how did you know she was taken?"

"Because a few of my . . . scientists hired people outside of SHIELD to get her. The guys were obviously not professionals. It was very sloppy, the whole thing.

"I'm . . . cleaning house, and these guys will never work in the field of science again. The ones who took her have been dealt with. I can't promise no one else will come after her."

"I know that. What did they use on her? I've got tests I can run, but is this gonna cause her any lasting damage?"

"No. She'll be sore for a few days, but other than that . . ."

"What exactly –"

"Our weapons department was working on a serum that could make someone feel as if they'd been shot without having been shot."

"You were working on a torture device. Did you know Agent Romanoff was hit as well?"

"I did. I assume she's fine."

"Yeah. Sleeping it off." Tony sighed. "Let me know if you need help cleaning house."

* * *

In the living room, Loki was cleaning Arianna's face of the little blood that had dried there. Her muscles were twitching even though she was sleeping. He knew that was because of the exhaustion the pain must have caused her.

Tony had just gotten off his phone and was now watching them with an odd expression.

"What?"

Tony shook his head. "She did that for you once, when you first became mortal. You were unconscious too."

"Hm."

That had been before she'd even begun to care for him. Though to be completely honest, she'd always cared about him – not as an individual, not as Loki, but as someone she had to heal and protect, yes, she'd always cared for him. Like she cared for everyone.

"Where are the others?" Loki asked, suddenly realizing he'd been left alone with Arianna.

"Rogers and Barton are watching over Romanoff. Banner is in his room. We've got Aries. And her swelling is going down. It'll be quite a shiner, though."

Tony sat on an arm of the sofa and Loki noticed he allowed himself to touch her hair.

"The ones who did this are dead. The ones who hired them are not. I don't know if she'd want any of them killed – it's just not her."

"Oh, I know," Loki said. "I'm here and alive. Relatively free."

He paused from washing her face and pulled the rag away.

"She was there because _I_ wanted to go outside."

"She was getting stir crazy herself. No one expected an attack in public and during the day. And I provided the transportation."

Before either could say anything else Arianna began to stir. She groaned once and seemed to try to lift her arms. They didn't get very far and a frown found a place on her mouth. She was waking up even though she should've been asleep for at least a few more hours.

She opened her eyes, green but glazed over from exhaustion. She looked around frantically, as if she didn't know where she was, until her gaze fell on first Loki and then Tony.

She groaned again and tried to sit up, to which Tony stood up and basically pressed her back down.

"Hey, whoa. Easy. You're not at a hundred percent."

"Mm. Really? I hadn't noticed."

She had retained a sense of humor, Loki noticed. He also noticed how scratchy her voice was. Her throat had been made raw from screaming.

"She needs water."

"Got it," Tony said and went out of the room. He seemed happy to have an excuse, actually.

Arianna grabbed his hand then and Loki was grateful for the warmth of it. The proof it provided that she was in fact okay. Or would be.

"Did they hurt you?" she asked.

"No." Loki swallowed down the emotion he felt because of her caring whether he'd been hurt or not. "They used the tranquilizer on me."

"Hm. Good."

Good? Warmth spread through him at that one word. Warmth and a small amount of panic because he knew he didn't deserve her affection toward him, he didn't really deserve any of the things the Avengers had given him. A home, friends, a family.

It was all he ever wanted, but he knew he didn't deserve it

* * *

After Tony came back with water for Arianna he slipped away to his workshop. He just needed to get away, to get his mind off things, and working was the best solution for him.

Besides, everyone would know where he was – no one would have been able to find him had he actually gone to bed like he knew he should have.

"Jarvis, keep an eye on Agents Romanoff and Grace. If anything changes for the worse, let me know immediately."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Other than that, no distractions."

He had an immediate problem in that dart thing that had hit two of his team members, two of his friends. No one else could be allowed to be taken down by this new weapon.

Tony had been working on this new liquid body armor, planned on making a suit of it for each of his team members. It was flame resistant, bulletproof, and would have definitely kept Natasha and Arianna from getting hit with those darts.

He really needed to work on that now. He wouldn't have his friends tortured, not when he could stop it. Sure, everyone was safe, and they had found Aries relatively easily, but what if it happened again?

They had to be ready.

* * *

After Arianna got her motor functioning skills back she decided to go to bed. She'd be more comfortable there, and she'd be able to sleep. She needed sleep. She was so exhausted and she didn't think she could stay awake much longer.

"Loki, I just wanna sleep. Help me to my room?"

"Okay."

Good. She still couldn't move much on her own, and she still felt as if she had pushed her body to the max.

Loki helped her off the couch and, because she refused to be carried, helped her to walk the distance to their hallway.

"Uh . . . you might have to come in. The bed covers need to be folded back, and a lot of other things that you probably didn't ever have to do as a prince."

"Mm. And how shall I serve you tonight, Miss Grace?"

Her heart stopped – or stuttered – at the innuendo in Loki's voice. This was the first time he'd ever used that voice on her, and if she hadn't been hurt she'd have been even more affected.

As it was, she knew Loki was only messing with her, and he really meant he was going to do whatever she needed him to.

"I do need you to pull down the covers. I . . . I may need help changing. Okay?"

"I am centuries old. I promise not to lose control at what is probably a perfect body."

"Don't feel too perfect at the moment."

Loki opened the door and helped her inside and onto the bed. He glanced at the dresser and then back at her.

Arianna realized then that this was the first time Loki had actually been in her room. She was glad she kept things relatively neat. The worst thing that she had out was a t-shirt draped over the edge of the bed. It was one of her sleep shirts, actually.

"This is okay," she said, gesturing to the shirt. "I just need –"

She lifted her arms, winced, and Loki stepped forward. He grasped the edge of her shirt, brought it up and over her head.

She let her arms fall back to her sides, where they remained until one of Loki's hands found its way to the cleavage of her breast that showed over her bra. She jerked away and ended up leaning back against her elbows and on her back.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped, to which Loki's eyes widened. He stepped back, hands fisted at his side. She could tell she had hurt his feelings. She immediately felt remorseful because she hadn't meant to react that way.

"Oh, Loki, I'm sorry. I don't – Sorry. I just . . ."

"I should have warned you. I saw – there's something on your skin."

"What?"

She glanced down only to notice that where the dart had struck her were now lines veining out from it. It looked like blood poisoning.

"Loki. My back, there's one on my back. Is it the same?"

"Uh . . ."

"It's okay to help me sit up. I won't freak out. I just – I shouldn't have before. I just – it surprised me."

"Sorry." He sat beside her and began helping her up. "Do you not like being touched in general?"

"I do like some warning. Sorry."

Loki stroked the bare skin of her back and she flinched. She could tell the injection site was fevered. She was probably infected with something.

"It is the same – maybe worse."

"Great. Makes sense, since that was where they original wound was." Arianna groaned. "Jarvis? Will you alert the others that Natasha needs to be checked over, and we all need to meet in the lab. Get Bruce down there, and tell Tony we're coming."

"Yes, Miss Grace." A pause and then, "Is this about your condition? Mr. Stark doesn't wish to be disturbed. New project."

"We need tests run. And yes, it's about my condition."

* * *

Tony had finally lost himself in his work when _everyone_ showed up outside his lab. Natasha was sandwiched between Steve and Clint, and Loki was helping Arianna along. Both women appeared to have been through a war.

Arianna was holding a shirt to her chest, but her back had no cover aside from the thin line of her bra. Tony didn't even want to know why that was or how it had come about.

Tony didn't want to deal with it.

Bruce came in behind the group and stopped right as he reached Arianna. Tony could tell he asked if she was okay and she nodded, though Tony could see that Arianna was nervous and just a little twitchy.

Of course, half-naked and surrounded by testosterone, she would be. She was a rape victim and she was getting a lot of male attention. Add in she'd recently been held hostage and tortured, she was probably flashing back to . . .

Yeah, he didn't want to deal with that either.

Bruce let them all in and led the two women to a work station. Despite Bruce being able to turn into a green giant, he was best for this. He was kind and gentle, not abrasive, and he probably wouldn't frighten Arianna. He would be careful with her even though he did not know her history.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"You should see this," Bruce said. "Uh, we might have a problem."

Tony stood from where he was working and went over to Bruce. When he noticed what exactly Bruce had been looking at he cringed. There, on Arianna's back, near her spine was a small dot with lines of red around it. It reminded him of when his own body had been at war with him, when his blood toxicity levels had been off the charts.

"Is the other area the same way?" he asked, and she nodded. "Tash?"

The red-head shrugged. "I got shot in the leg."

"Maybe you should check," Steve said. "Then we'll know whether or not she's the only one it's affecting this way."

Without hesitating Natasha began taking her pants off. Tony rolled his eyes, Clint smirked, Bruce and Steven looked away, and Loki appeared as shocked as Loki could be. Tony figured most Asgardians didn't ever strip in front of a group of people.

"Tash, I don't think he meant for you to check in front of everyone!" Arianna said.

"Nope, definitely not!" Steve said.

"It's just skin," Natasha said, shrugging. "And it's not like Aries."

"Oh, great," Arianna muttered. "I really am infected or something."

"Blood tests," Bruce said, "checking for infections or viruses. Keep a list of symptoms you start to experience. We'll need antibiotics once we figure out what's wrong. And keep an eye on your temperature."

* * *

As Bruce continued one a doctor spiel Arianna's phone began vibrating in her back pocket. That was weird. Who would be calling her? Almost everyone she knew was in that room.

When she slipped her phone out she realized she wasn't getting a call; she was getting an ongoing list of text messages. Picture messages, really, of the two men that had taken her. They were dead, both with bullets in their foreheads, right in the center. There were other pictures of the man she had hurt, the man she would have killed had the other not stopped her.

Who was sending this to her? Why? She already felt bad for losing control; she didn't need this as a reminder.

"What's that?" Steve asked.

"Nothing."

"Aries," Natasha said quietly. "Give me the phone. Whatever is on there doesn't matter."

"Yes. Yes, it does!" She tossed her phone to Natasha maybe a touch too hard, and her eyes began to bun with tears. "They were scared of me! They were scared of me; that's why they shot me with that – that thing. They didn't want me to be able to focus. They knew I had to focus!

"Blondie enjoyed hurting me. He's the one that kept hitting me, and then when he stopped I hurt him like I –"

She clenched her jaw to keep from finishing her sentence. She would have hurt Blondie the way she had hurt David. She knew the guy hadn't been a solid citizen, had actually been a grade-A jerk, but she had never meant to hurt anyone.

"Aries!" Natasha stepped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. Arianna hated herself for flinching. "Stop! The pictures don't matter. What you did doesn't matter. They were hurting you. They were either going to kill you, or they were waiting for someone to come get you. You had every right to defend yourself in any way you could."

She'd heard that in every therapy session she'd ever been through and in every self-help book she'd ever read. It didn't help then and it wasn't going to help now.

"I understand self-defense, Tash, but these men are dead now."

"But _you_ didn't kill them."

"I could have. If they hadn't shot me the second time I would have." She shrugged. "I would have, and there are others after me from SHIELD who are probably responsible for these two guys. What if more people die because of me?"

Loki stepped forward then. "We really need to run the blood tests for you, Arianna. But to be clear, if these others are out to harm you, I'll be glad to see them meet the same fate as these two."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Tony said. "Now, how about those tests?"

* * *

Okay, so there was a lot going on in this chapter, which I didn't realize when I wrote it, but hey . . . I think it fits. Not sure about the Tony/Arianna scenes. Not going for any romantic overtones of anything, I'd rather it feel familial, like he's taken in an orphan type person and just cares about her, but doesn't really know how to deal with that. Other than that . . . hope you enjoyed!


	12. Chapter 12

Trigger Warning: mentions and slight description of rape of a minor (17 year old)

Chapter Twelve

Arianna didn't sleep that night. She kept going over everything that had happened from the time the first dart had hit her. There had been so much pain, more than she'd ever felt before, and yet it still wasn't the worst thing she'd been through. Not even close.

It brought back all of her old nightmares. She'd only been seventeen and she'd been completely helpless. That was how she'd felt that night, and that was also how those other two men had made her feel.

Her life and her comfort had been in the hands of two psychopaths. In the end, the pain wasn't what got to her; it was the lack of control, the loss of it. She couldn't be not in control. That's when she caused disasters.

She knew everyone else saw it as self-defense, and she did too, to a certain extent, and she was even glad she never had to worry about these guys again, but she wasn't happy about her part in hurting Blondie . . . or in killing David.

Then to top it all off, the two from earlier had been shot in the head, which wasn't her fault. Tony had blasted them to knock them out, and someone had come in after then to finish the job.

She would rather have had them locked up. At least that way they would have been useful; they would have had information she and the others would need.

That couldn't be helped now. They were dead and that was that.

Before going to her room after the tests Tony and Bruce had run, they'd told her they should know more in the morning. She knew that meant Tony wouldn't sleep that night. How many hours had he been up? He needed sleep. They all needed sleep.

She wished she could sleep.

* * *

Loki had trouble sleeping as well, and for the same reason.

Guilt wasn't new to him, but having it affect him so was. Had he not mentioned wanting to go out he knew she wouldn't have been out there even if she'd wanted to be. She'd only done it because of him.

Granted, he hadn't known people had been following her and the other Avengers, but still . . . he didn't feel right knowing she'd been put in danger because of him.

When she'd been brought back she'd been bruised and unconscious. Loki didn't know what pain she'd been through, but he did know pain, and he never would have wished it on her, on any of his new friends – and they were friends.

And the way she'd reacted when he'd touched her . . . She'd yelled, and she never yelled, even when she was furious. No, she'd been afraid – only for a few seconds, only before she realized what she'd done. It made him remember when she'd been angry over Tony finding out about something from Arianna's past. She'd gotten over it rather quickly, but she had been angry. From her anger, Loki had realized there was something Arianna was hiding.

Her reaction to him touching her made him think he knew what she'd been hiding. He wasn't certain, but there wasn't very much doubt. The man she'd killed – the one who had hurt her – had deserved to die if he'd done what Loki thought he'd done.

On Asgard if a man forced himself on a woman, he was disgraced if caught. Sometimes the man was thrown into exile, cut off from everyone and everything he'd ever known. If he was allowed to stay he was shunned, treated as a pariah by others.

Loki hadn't been able to protect her. He would have fought for her. He would have done whatever had been necessary to keep Arianna from further pain, but he'd been completely defenseless against their weapons. If he was being completely honest, he was defenseless against this whole mortal world, and he hated it.

He'd finally found a place he could belong – for the most part – and he'd found a home and made real friends, and he was most likely going to see them die, would most likely die along with them.

He didn't know how he felt about any of it. He just knew he wanted his friends safe.

* * *

While Loki and Arianna were in their rooms everyone else was in the workshop with Tony. He was both grateful and annoyed, if such a combination could be accomplished.

Bruce, of course, was always welcome, and he was the one running the blood tests for Arianna. He suspected blood poisoning that could lead to a serious infection. It was good that they had caught it so early.

Natasha was sprawled out on a rolly chair, legs spread wide, pants back on, thankfully. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her head tilted back against the chair.

Clint was standing beside her, and Steve was there standing, resting parade stance, ever the soldier.

They were all worried about Aries, about her reactions since being rescued, and about someone else coming for her. And there was nothing they could do but wait for it.

Jarvis had been keeping an eye on Arianna's vitals. She had a low grade fever, but she was otherwise showing no symptoms of an infection. She'd finally fallen into a fitful sleep. Nightmares were to be expected, but Tony was more worried about monitoring her temperature.

"Are the antibiotics she'll need in ready supply?" Tony asked.

Bruce nodded. "It's not a problem. I can make then here if I need to."

That was good news at least. Something had gone right.

While Tony was still theorizing about how best to make body armor for the others he received a call from Fury. Two phone calls in one night . . . had to be their record.

"Yes?"

"SHIELD has been infiltrated by Hydra. They are after Arianna. It seems a few of our agents turned on us. Hydra apparently offered them something they wanted or threatened them. They hired outside help to get her. Since they could have killed her right away and didn't, we have to assume they were only the delivery system."

"Great."

Basically everyone in the room was at attention now. Natasha was still seated, but sitting upright and tense, Clint was standing stiffly beside her; Steve was still in his resting parade stance, but Tony could tell that he was more alert now – probably because of the Hydra connection; Bruce appeared unaffected aside from what this meant for Arianna.

Tony imagined if Bruce was around when these people came around next time – if there was a next time – Bruce might go into Hulk-smash mode in under five seconds.

"What're you doing with the double agents?"

"Locking them up. They may have information, and they've proven they're not loyal. They'd turn again given the proper incentive."

That being threats and torture, Tony knew. He was glad that he was only technically and not legally working with SHIELD. He didn't agree with their methods even on their best day, but he understood the necessity for it.

"Keep us posted."

Like they didn't have enough to worry about. As long as Arianna stayed there she would be fine, but that couldn't be the long-term plan because Hydra would eventually get tired of waiting.

"Can you pull up the security feed from around the café they went to?" Natasha asked.

"Sure."

He'd been going to do that anyway. He just hadn't had time. He could take a break and watch the playback, see what they could see.

* * *

Loki still hadn't made it to sleep when Arianna came tapping at his door. He thought of tapping because it wasn't loud enough to be considered knocking. She obviously hadn't wanted to risk waking him had he been asleep.

When he opened the door the first thing he noticed was the flush in her cheeks. He then saw the weakness she was feeling, weakness from the poison or venom or whatever they had injected her with and the pain that had followed.

"Arianna?"

He was surprised, to say the least, that she had come to visit at . . . however late it was in the morning.

"Couldn't sleep," she said. "Can I come in?"

"Of course."

Arianna moved sluggishly and Loki kept close beside her until she made it to the bed. At least she hadn't fallen over.

She sat at the edge of the bed and Loki, not knowing whether he should sit beside her or not, just stood beside her until she grabbed his hand and basically yanked him down to sit.

"It's your bed. You don't have to stand."

"Hm."

Loki's gaze focused on where their hands connected. Her skin was warmer than it normally was. Add in the flush in her cheeks and Loki knew she probably had a fever.

"Does Tony know your temperature is higher than it should be?"

"Yes. He's keeping an eye on me via Jarvis. Last check I was at 101. 98.6 is the norm."

"And if it gets higher?"

Arianna flopped onto her back as gracefully as she could. Loki's hand, having still been in hers, landed on her stomach. Her shirt had ridden up so an inch of bare skin was showing. She shivered when he caressed the skin with his thumb.

"Your hand is cold."

"No. You're just warm."

"Mm."

Her eyes closed and she brought his hand to her head, where her skin was even warmer. She sighed even as she covered his hand to keep it against her.

"How are you alive?" she asked, eyes still closed. "Not healthy to be this cold."

What was she talking about? He wasn't even a little bit chilly. She was just overheated. He knew Banner was deciding what medicine would be best to give her. Loki might have to ask for Banner to hurry that up a bit.

Loki allowed her to use his hand as a human ice package until the heat began to bother him. He pulled his hand from hers and his eyes widened. There was a bluish tint to his skin.

He scanned Arianna's face for anything that shouldn't have been there – like ice or frost burn. Nothing. If anything she seemed slightly better. The fever flush was gone from her cheeks.

Her eyes were still closed, but Loki knew she wasn't sleeping. He quickly placed his hand under his leg in case she decided to look at him. Loki wasn't sure how much Arianna knew about him, didn't know if Midgardians even knew what a Frost Giant was. If they knew what monsters they could be, and that he was one of them.

He hadn't thought he'd ever need to worry about it since becoming mortal, and he hadn't worried about it until just then.

Who knew he'd be able to access his Frost Giant ability. He was lucky he hadn't given her frost burn or that he hadn't turned her to ice.

Arianna sat up then and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Why couldn't you sleep?" she asked.

"I suspect for the same reason that you could not sleep."

Loki clenched his fist under his thigh. He could feel the chill slowly making its way up his arm now that he was focusing on it. Fortunately, he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

Loki knew his skin didn't always feel cold. He'd hugged Thor many times and his body temperature had never been an issue. Thor would have mentioned it had he ever noticed a major difference between them. No, his body only turned blue and cold when he called on his Jotun form, but now that he was mortal he apparently had no control over it. He'd been reacting to her warmth, was still reacting to her warmth.

In fact, he needed to get Arianna away from him before the skin she'd be able to see turned blue, before the patterns etched themselves in his skin, before his emerald eyes turned red . . . Before he turned into a monster.

Arianna was breathing quietly against his shoulder, half-asleep. She was resting, finally resting, and he had to move her.

"Arianna, you cannot fall asleep here," he said, gently jostling her into a straight up position.

"Mm. Not sleeping." She said, speech slurred from exhaustion.

"You will be in about two minutes." He forced coldness into his voice that hadn't been there for months. "I think you should leave now."

"I – I . . . uh, okay."

Loki could tell he'd hurt her and confused her, but she got up anyway still shaky and weak.

"I don't want anyone to think ill of you, Arianna," he said, trying to ease the pain he saw on her face. "Spending the night with me wouldn't be proper."

That had been the wrong thing to say apparently, because Arianna became tense.

"Since when do you care about being proper?" she hissed.

She went to the door and opened it. She slammed it on the way out.

* * *

Arianna stalked into her room – or stalked as much as she could considering how weak she was. She did not slam her own door, though she did close it.

She vaguely wondered if she'd overreacted by storming out of Loki's room. For all she knew, he really was looking after her reputation. Maybe on Asgard it was a big no-no to sleep in the same room unless you were married. She didn't know. It was true he had never tried to get her to let him into her room. He had never been inside until she'd asked him in earlier to help her.

No matter the reason, she had sought him out for comfort and he had turned her away. She'd needed him, showed that she needed him, and he'd rejected her. But why? It made no sense. Loki liked affection – no matter what he claimed – and he especially liked being affectionate with her. And he'd been warm enough when she'd first arrived – though he had seemed to have been uncertain whether his presence would be welcome on the bed.

Something had made him shut down and shut her out. Maybe he was getting sick; he had been a little cold. And they were both exhausted. Maybe things would be better in the morning; or seeing as it was almost four in the morning – later that day.

* * *

The people in the lab had studied the feed from the security cameras in and around the coffee house Arianna and Loki had used for their date.

Natasha and Clint quickly identified the two guys that had taken Aries as the two men that had been stalking the Tower.

"So where's the woman?" Tony asked. "And I thought you said that they were trained."

"They seemed to be."

"Then they didn't care if they got caught," Clint deduced. "This was just a trial run. Maybe they just wanted to see if the serum would work on Arianna."

Tony suddenly had an idea. He'd hacked into SHIELD's database to find out about Arianna a few weeks ago. It wasn't hard to do that again, only this time he decided to check out the recent files updated in and uploaded to the Science and Weapons departments.

"And there it is," he grumbled.

In black and white: PROJECT ARIES. The file was encrypted, but Tony had no problem accessing it.

"They've been working on this serum off and on for decades, it looks like."

Tony quickly scanned the file. Research for the serum had begun right around the time Steve Rogers became Captain America, the first super soldier.

"Probably a contingency plan in case you decided to go rogue. No one knew what would happen to you once you became Captain America."

They didn't start thinking of putting the serum in weapons until the 80s when a bunch of mutants popped up. X-men – mutant humans, people with abilities.

Research picked up again when Bruce ended up being changed by another serum. That was when they really began trying to make a dart that could make you feel pain everywhere to the point of incapacitation.

The real thing had started because of Steve. Due to the name, however, Arianna was their new target, and Clint had been right. This had been a trial run.

"They just wanted to see if it would work. If it would incapacitate her."

"And they wouldn't risk trying it on me," Bruce said. "Cowards."

"The scientists, the ones who made this, made the original one because I could have been a loose cannon," Steve said. "Now they're just using it because people are different. Not bad, just different."

"Yup. These mutants are the unknown. People don't like or trust what they don't know."

"But Aries is just about the nicest person I've ever met," Natasha said. "These people just want a way to control her."

"It's a line of defense. There's stuff about Thor and Loki in here too. Not sure if the dart would work on Thor." Tony shrugged. "Not that we need to worry about that."

* * *

Upstairs, in her room, Arianna was having a nightmare. It was always the same one. She was in an alleyway – so cliché, but that was where she'd been raped, where David had taken her. She was seventeen, considered a minor still, and she wasn't as strong as she would be one day.

She didn't dream much about it anymore. Only when something really bad happened like it had that night. She'd been hurt again, tortured, so of course it would bring memories back, bring this nightmare again.

The night David had raped her had started out innocently enough. He'd even had dinner with her and her parents that night before everything had happened. Then she had been on her way to a friend's house. It was only a few minutes away and she'd felt safe walking it. She hadn't been safe at all.

David had grabbed her, started kissing her, had surprised her into completely stillness until she'd realized what was happening. Then came the struggling and the roughness.

She remembered screaming and pleading 'please don't, please don't,' and yelling for help that wouldn't come. She remembered crying, remembered being hit, because he had hit her more than once. He kept hurting her even though she'd begged and cried and struggled.

She'd just wanted him to stop, had to make him stop, make the pain stop. She remembered clearly the pain she'd felt between her legs when he'd entered her even though she'd tried to push him away.

Sometime between start and finish was then she'd tapped into her powers for the first time, and he'd been in so much pain he'd pulled away from her.

She'd crawled away, huddled against the wall of the alley even as David continued to be crushed by nothing or by air or however that worked.

He died and she was alone, almost completely naked, and bleeding from different areas of her body from his rough treatment. She'd slipped away then, into her own mind and didn't fade back into complete consciousness until a policeman found her.

Arianna jerked awake, aware of someone screaming bloody murder. Were they under attack again? Why couldn't they just leave her alone?

But no, she wasn't under attack. She had, however, been the one screaming. She quickly slapped a hand over her mouth and then grimaced as she agitated the wounds already there.

She curled herself into a tight ball as tears burned her eyes.

"Jarvis, I need Tash." Her voice came out as a strained croak. "I need Tash."

* * *

Loki heard Arianna scream and wanted to go to her. If she'd been in danger he would have, but Jarvis had assured him that she'd only been having a nightmare. It must've been a terrible one considering she'd been screaming, but that was all it had been.

After Arianna had left earlier Loki's skin had continued to turn blue. Now he was in his true form. Why couldn't he have just gotten his power back? Why did this side have to appear first?

He didn't want anyone seeing him this way. He wouldn't be able to face anyone until he could get this under control.

"Is someone seeing to Arianna?" he asked. "Someone needs to check on her."

"Her vitals are normal and within a healthy range. Agent Romanoff is on her way. She was asked for."

"Good."

Now Loki could try to figure out what he could do about his new problem.


End file.
